Spar makes ambitious entry into Greece | Progresiv
Spar International has set its sights on Greece as the next country to conquer and lead as the foremost independent food retail chain. Spar Hellas will cooperate with Asteras and Mesis to develop more than 500 Spar stores over the next four years. 
Spar International has announced that it will continue its worldwide expansion with an entry on the Greek market of independent food supermarkets. As Spar Hellas, the food retail chain hopes to establish itself as the "most modern cooperative network of independent retail stores in the country", says CEO Fivos Karakitsos.
The first ten Greek Spar stores are due to open by July; eighty stores will be operational by the end of 2018. Within a mere four years, more than 500 Spar stores should adorn the Greek food retail landscape, 200 of which are currently part of the Asteras association. In a co-operation with the Mesis chain, most of the Asteras stores will be converted to Spar branches, combining the independent Greek retailers' knowledge with the Spar brand philosophy.
Greece is the most recent target market in which Spar International hopes to establish itself: only last year, the Dutch food retail chain announced its entry in Cyprus and Belarus. As "the world’s largest food retail voluntary chain", Spar International owns over 12,500 stores worldwide and reported global retail sales of 33.1 billion euros in 2016. (www.retaildetail.eu)
