Plus (German supermarket)

Plus was a German multinational discount supermarket chain founded in 1972. It operated 2,840 stores in Germany with an approximate 27,000 employees and about 1,200 stores in several other European countries. The retail model was to sell low-cost groceries with no expense incurred for display or marketing of products. Groceries were stored in the shipping cartons they came in, rather than being stacked on shelves. In German advertising, the name "Plus" was used as a backronym for "Prima leben und sparen" (approximately "top-notch living and saving"), featuring animated "little prices" (also sold as plush puppets) as their mascot.[2]

Plus Warenhandelsgesellschaft mbH
Company typeGmbH
IndustryFood retailing
Founded1972 (1972)
Defunct2010 (2010)
Headquarters,
Key people
Michael Hürter
Revenue 10 bn (2006)[1]
Number of employees
27,700 (2005)
Websiteplus-online.de (Archived, now redirects to netto-online24.de, which redirects to netto-online.de)

Sale edit

The Edeka Group and the Tengelmann Group entered a joint venture to acquire the Plus supermarket chain on 16 November 2007, which resulted in 70% of Plus supermarkets being owned by the Edeka Group and 30% owned by the Tengelmann Group.[3]

As of January 2009, the stores in the Plus supermarket chain owned by the Edeka group were remodelled into Netto Marken-Discount supermarket chain branches, while the Tengelmann Group's supermarkets were bought by others.[4]

In 2008, Plus was recognized by PETA as the most pet-friendly discount store.[5]

Country First supermarket Withdrawn Number of supermarkets Sold to
Cyprus 1973 2008 44 Alfamega
Germany 1972 2007 2840 Netto Marken-Discount (Edeka) and 328 Penny Market (REWE)
Austria 2003 2010 355
Spain 1994 2007 238 Dia
Portugal 2003 2007 75 Pingo Doce (Jerónimo Martins)
Poland 1995 2007 183 Biedronka (Jerónimo Martins)
Czech Republic 1992 2008 134 Penny Market (REWE)
Hungary 1992 2008 174 Spar
Romania 2005 2010 120 Lidl
Bulgaria 2009 2010 25 Lidl
Greece 2006 2008 33 AB Vassilopoulos (Delhaize)
United States 1979 1982 21 A&P

References edit

  1. ^ "Keine Tabus". WirtschaftsWoche. No. 10. March 5, 2007. p. 58.
  2. ^ "Plus und die Kleinen Preise - Wer wir sind". 2010-07-07. Archived from the original on 7 July 2010. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
  3. ^ "EDEKA". 2011-04-02. Archived from the original on 2 April 2011. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
  4. ^ "Bundeskartellamt". 2009-08-30. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
  5. ^ "peta.de :: PETAs Progress Awards 2008". 2008-08-10. Archived from the original on 10 August 2008. Retrieved 2022-05-11.

External links edit