Metro AG is a German multinational company based in Düsseldorf which operates business membership only cash and carry stores primarily under Metro brand. Until 2020 it was also active in general retail business through Real division, which was sold to an investor consortium.
Industria de Diseño Textil, S.A. is a Spanish multinational clothing company headquartered in Arteixo, Galicia, in Spain. Inditex, the biggest fast fashion group in the world, operates over 7,200 stores in 93 markets worldwide. The company's flagship store is Zara, but it also owns a number of other brands such as Zara Home, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, Uterqüe and Lefties. The majority of its stores are corporate-owned, while franchises are mainly conceded in countries where corporate properties cannot be foreign-owned.
A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs.
ICA Gruppen AB (publ) is a Swedish retailer with a focus on food and health. The group also owns a bank, real estate division and a pharmacy chain.
SPAR, originally DESPAR, is a Dutch multinational 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, and now consists of more than 13,320 stores in 48 countries. The company's name is an acronym of the slogan "Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig", which was used by van Well to describe the brand and translates as "Everyone works better together".
Somerfield was a chain of small to medium-sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. The company also previously owned the Kwik Save chain of discount food stores. The company was taken over by the Co-operative Group on 2 March 2009 in a £1.57 billion deal, creating the UK's fifth-largest food retailer. The Somerfield name was replaced by the Co-operative brand in a rolling programme of store conversions ending in summer 2011.
IGA, Inc. is an American chain of grocery stores that operates in more than 30 countries. Unlike the chain store business model, IGA operates as a franchise through stores that are owned separately from the brand. Many of these stores operate in small-town markets and belong to families that manage them. It was founded in the United States as the Independent Grocers Alliance in 1926. The headquarters is in Chicago, Illinois.
Media Markt is a German multinational chain of stores selling consumer electronics with over 1000 stores in Europe. With chain of stores Saturn it constitutes Media-Saturn Holding, owned by the retail company Ceconomy, which was demerged from Metro Group in 2017.
First Quench Retailing was the largest independent off-licence retail chain in the UK, with around 1,300 shops operating under several retail brands, though all have now been closed. At the time of First Quench's closure, these included the Threshers, Haddows, The Local and Wine Rack chains.
Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH is a German department store chain whose headquarters are in Essen. Until 30 September 2010 the company was a subsidiary of Arcandor AG and was responsible within the group for the business segment of over-the-counter retail.
Vroom & Dreesmann (V&D) was a Dutch chain of department stores founded in 1887. It was declared bankrupt on 31 December 2015, although its branches were still in operation until 15 February 2016. On 16 February 2016, it was announced that takeover negotiations had not led to an agreement, ultimately resulting in the company's demise.
Super de Boer was a Dutch supermarket chain. The holding company which owned Super de Boer, Super de Boer N.V., was formerly named Laurus N.V.. It changed its name to that of its only remaining retail brand in January 2008.
Beter Bed N.V. is a Dutch holding company. Through its subsidiaries Beter Bed Holding N.V. trades in bedroom furniture, mattresses and related products. In this line of business Beter Bed N.V is market leader in the Netherlands and was, until the sale of its subsidiary "Matratzen Concord", also market leader in Germany. Since 5 December 1996 Beter Bed N.V.'s shares have been being traded on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. However, Beter Bed N.V. did not belong to the group of companies that compose the AEX index but was part of the group that compose the Amsterdam Small Cap Index. On 24 September 2018 it was reported that Beter Bed N.V. had been removed from the Amsterdam Small Cap Index.
Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-largest retailing company in the United States in 2015. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018, and sold its assets to ESL Investments in 2019. The new owner moved Sears assets to its newly formed subsidiary Transform Holdco LLC and after that, Sears Holdings Corporation was closed.
Jacob "Jaap" Blokker was a Dutch businessman and executive.
Bart Smit B.V. was a Dutch store-chain that specialised in toys, multimedia and electronics. For many years, it was owned by Blokker Holding.
BelCompany was a Dutch store-chain that specialises in mobile phones. It was founded in 1995 by Macintosh Retail Group and Pon Holdings, and is currently part of Vodafone Netherlands.
Videoland is a Dutch OTT online service provider owned by RTL Nederland. Originally it was a retail chain of video rental stores. Its main competitor is Netflix.
Intertoys is a Dutch store-chain founded in 1976 that specialised in toys, multimedia and electronics. It is headquartered in Amsterdam.
De Sperwer U.A., whose members trade as PLUS under licence from PLUS Holding B.V., is a Dutch co-operative supermarket chain headquartered in Utrecht. Its 259 members operate, as ‘independent entrepreneurs,’ 270 stores across the Netherlands. In 2019 the members had total revenues of €2.6 billion and an overall 6.5% share of the Dutch grocery market.
