Rewe to open 350 supermarkets in Germany next year

Rewe Group expects to open about 350 new supermarkets in Germany next year as part of its ongoing expansion in the country, Rewe’s national expansion manager Stephan Koof said at the EXPO REAL fair in Munich. 'Another 120 supermarkets will be opened this year alone, adding to the 3,000 existing Rewe supermarkets', he said. Koof added that the supermarket chain has already identified about 600 new locations in Germany, mainly close to urban centres.

In response to the growing number of elderly people and declining household sizes, the group said it is launching a new concept for supermarkets in the inner cities. Whereas a Rewe supermarket typically provides 3,000 m² to 4,000 m² of space, the size of the new-style stores will be cut to 600 m² to fit in better with city centre needs. 'We have developed a concept for inner-city locations that is tailored to sites of 600 m² and more,' he says. According to Koof, the bottleneck for many supermarkets in city centres is floor space, as local authorities often forbid the development of large-scale retail schemes. 'Standards for new locations will get tougher and increasingly go beyond hard facts such as size, floor plan, and available parking spaces,' he added.

Rewe also plans to aggressively expand its Penny locations throughout Germany. The discount chain aims to open up to 180 new outlets in 2008, especially in major cities like Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Cologne, with store sales areas of 800 m² and with around 80 dedicated parking places. Founded in Cologne in 1927, Rewe Group is the second-largest food trading company in Germany and one of the leading European trading and travel companies with a turnover of EUR 43.5 bn, 270,000 employees, and 12,000 stores in 14 countries.