Metro AG is a German multinational company based in Düsseldorf which operates business membership-only cash and carry stores primarily under the Metro brand. As of March 2024, Metro is operating 626 wholesale stores in 21 countries, including Europe, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan.
BILLA is an Austrian supermarket chain that operates in central, eastern and southeastern Europe. The company was founded by Karl Wlaschek in 1953. He sold his controlling interest to Germany's REWE Group in 1996.
Aldi is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when they took over their mother's store in Essen. The business was split into two separate groups in 1960, that later became Aldi Nord, headquartered in Essen, and Aldi Süd, headquartered in neighbouring Mülheim.
SPAR, originally "DESPAR", styled as "DE SPAR", is a Dutch multinational franchise that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well.
The Edeka Group is the largest German supermarket corporation as of 2017, holding a market share of 25.3%. Founded in 1907, it currently consists of several co-operatives of independent supermarkets, all operating under the umbrella organisation Edeka Zentrale AG & Co KG, with headquarters in Hamburg. There are approximately 4,100 stores with the Edeka nameplate, ranging from small corner stores to hypermarkets. On 16 November 2007, Edeka reached an agreement with Tengelmann to purchase a 70% majority stake in Tengelmann's Plus discounter store division, which was then merged into Edeka's Netto brand, resulting in around 4,200 stores by 2018. Across all brands, the company operated a total of 13,646 stores at the end of 2017.
Kaufland is a German hypermarket chain, part of the Schwarz Gruppe which also owns Lidl. The hypermarket directly translates to English as "buy-land." It opened its first store in 1984 in Neckarsulm and quickly expanded to become a major chain in what was formerly West Germany. It operates over 1,500 stores in Germany, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova.
Tengelmann Twenty-One KG is the Munich-based Holding of the Tengelmann Group, a family-owned company established in 1867. The company identifies as an active entrepreneurial family investor, currently holding shares in more than 50 companies in Europe and North America. The diverse portfolio includes large retailers such as OBI and KiK, the real estate company TREI, the energy consulting company Tengelmann Energie, the insurance company Tengelmann Assekuranz as well as Tengelmann Audit. Their affiliated investment companies Tengelmann Ventures, Emil Capital Partners and Tengelmann Growth Partners invest in Start-ups and Grown-ups in Europe and North America.
Penny or internationally Penny Market is a German discount supermarket chain based in Germany, which operates 3,550 stores. The market was founded by Leibbrand Gruppe in 1973; since 1989, it has been fully owned by the Rewe Group.
The REWE Group is a German diversified retail and tourism co-operative group based in Cologne, Germany. The name REWE comes from Revisionsverband der Westkauf-Genossenschaften", meaning "Western Buying Co-operatives Auditing Association".
The Alnatura Produktions- und Handels GmbH is a chain of organic food supermarkets and producer of organic food headquartered in Darmstadt, Hesse in Germany. The company was founded in 1984 by Götz Rehm and distributes food and textiles, produced according to ecological aspects, under the trademark Alnatura. The company is based on ideas of the esoteric anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner, which is founder Götz Rehm strongly influenced by. The company is like Demeter and others, part of the pseudoscientific anthroposopical community in Germany.
Lidl is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 12,000 stores, present in every member state of the European Union, Serbia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, which also includes hypermarket chain Kaufland.
European Supermarket Magazine is a pan-European publication focusing on the grocery retail and fast-moving consumer goods sectors. Published by Madison Publications Limited, its first issue appeared in December 2009. The magazine is often referred to by readers by its acronym, ESM, which is also the magazine's logo.
