It has been serving customers for more than nine decades - but many people are only just learning what SPAR actually stands for. Founded by Adriaan van Well in 1932, the Dutch multinational franchise now has more than 13,900 stores across 48 counties and serves 14.7 million customers every day.
SPAR has been in Ireland for 61 years and currently has over 400 stores here, which employ over 14,000 people.
The first SPAR branded store opened in the Netherlands under the name DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, with Adriaan van Well creating this acronym to act as a slogan for his stores. While the food store is known simply as SPAR in Ireland today, it continues to use this name in certain parts of the world, prompting one confused traveller to ask on Quora : "Why are SPAR supermarkets called DESPAR in Italy?
On SPAR's website, a statement reads: "Founded in The Netherlands in 1932, SPAR is the world’s largest grocery chain. Although there is much speculation as to the meaning of the word SPAR with some mistakenly thinking it is derived from the Dutch word for ‘to save’ Besparen, SPAR is in fact an acronym of a Dutch sentence that explains where modern day ‘SPAR’ finds its foundations.
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"Back in 1932 Van Well called his new retail concept ‘De SPAR’, which is derived from the following Dutch phrase: ‘Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig’. When directly translated means, ‘We all benefit from joint cooperation’, which remains true to this day in each SPAR country and in the network as a whole.
"To symbolize the strength of this organization, Adriaan Van Well used the fir tree as part of the ‘De SPAR’ logo and although the organization’s name has shortened to SPAR and the SPAR tree has somewhat developed into more of a contemporary fir tree the fundamentals still remain to make it an instantly recognizable brand worldwide."
In the 1940s, the company decided to abbreviate its brand name before expanding its stores into Europe, with its first Irish SPAR launching in Dublin in 1963. A statement explains: "Under the Tree since 1963, SPAR is the leading convenience store in Ireland and has been serving local communities for more than 60 years. From the time it opened its first store in Dublin in 1963, SPAR has been a leader in Irish convenience retailing, bringing consumers the most innovative products and in-store offerings.
"SPAR is a brand with convenience at its core, constantly evolving to meet the changing needs of the modern Irish customer, offering great appropriate time of day fresh foods, healthy options through the SPAR Better Choices programme and an expansive range of key grocery items. Shoppers can be assured of price and value though our Everyday Value range and SPAR Own Brand products which offers shoppers savings of up to 33% versus branded equivalents. SPAR is part of leading retail and wholesale company BWG Foods UC and, with a presence in every county across Ireland, SPAR’s over 400 stores provide employment for 14,000 people locally."
Commenting on this, one Quora user claims: "When the company was founded in the Netherlands it was originally called Despar. Later when they expanded across Europe some countries shortened the name to Spar but Italy retained the original name. To English speakers Despar looks too close to "despair" but to Italian speakers, it doesn't have this problem."
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