REMA 1000

REMA 1000
Discount store
Founded 1979 in Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway
Number of locations
444
Area served
Scandinavia
Revenue NOK 20.6 billion (2004)
Owner Reitangruppen
Number of employees
6,312 (2004)
Website www.rema.no
REMA 1000 store at Vesterport Copenhagen, Denmark

REMA 1000 is a multinational no-frills supermarket chain owned entirely by the Reitan Group (Reitangruppen). REMA is a short for Reitan Mat (Reitan Food), referring to Odd Reitan (founder of the company). 1000 refers to offering a selection of only one thousand different products (see the history section).

With their headquarters located in Oslo, Norway, REMA 1000 includes businesses in Norway and Denmark. The chain is based on a franchised discount concept: buying large quantities of a limited range of products and offering these to semi-independent owners under their brand. By 2004, REMA 1000 includes 444 supermarkets spread around Scandinavia.

In Norway, the supermarket chain captured 17.5% (2004) of the total revenue by all Norwegian supermarkets, taking the lead over its closest rival RIMI. By market share it is therefore the single largest supermarket chain in the country.

The supermarkets

REMA 1000 supermarkets are known for not spending large sums on aesthetics. As a matter of fact one of the chain's slogans is “The simple is often the best” (Norwegian: “Det enkle er ofte det beste”) and this reflects on the layout concept in the supermarkets. Products are mostly positioned by crate or even by pallet to save the cost of positioning them in a more attractive way, a strategy not unique to REMA. It is still REMA 1000’s official policy of not letting cost-saving damage the basic idea of simplicity (in accordance with the slogan). Wide corridors and informative signs are therefore present to simplify the shopping.

History

Odd Reitan, the founder of the company, opened the first REMA supermarket in Trondheim, Norway, 15 February 1979. Originally some stores were named 'REMA 500', indicating its number of food variety (later to be expanded). The owners had recently visited Germany where they had been impressed by the Albrecht brothers (Theo and Karl) supermarket chain ALDI's success. They wanted to adapt the ALDI concept to Norwegian conditions.

Originally REMA attempted success with a selection of only 500-600 different products, but soon realised that this selection was too narrow. The success of the third REMA supermarket (opened in Mo i Rana, 8 May 1980) with a selection of 1,000 different products, paved way for the REMA 1000 brand. Since then, REMA 1000 have expanded their selection to more than 2,500 different products,[1] but the name has not been updated along the way.

In 2004, the chain celebrated its 25-year anniversary.

Countries with REMA 1000 supermarkets

Supermarkets Country Employees Revenue Market share Debut year Comment
565 (2016) Norway 5,450 (2004) NOK 17,621 mill (Increase 4.6%) (2004) 17.5% (2004) 1979 Headquarters are located in Oslo
270 (2016) Denmark 7–8,000 (2015) NOK 2,935 mill (Increase 10.2%) (2004) 3% (2004) 1994 Danish headquarters are located in Horsens
20 Slovakia 1993 sold
0 Poland 1993 sold in 2003
0 Hungary 1998 sold in 2002

References

  1. "http://www.rema1000.net/web/webdoc.nsf/web/omrema.html". REMA 1000. Archived from the original on May 17, 2007. External link in |title= (help)
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