About SPAR
The SPAR story
SPAR is the world's largest food retail chain. In Dutch, spar means fir tree: an evergreen and a symbol of long life.
The name comes from the motto "Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig", which translates as "Everyone benefits from united cooperation". Over time the abbreviation SPAR became a word of its own and the fir tree became the chain's emblem. When Dutch entrepreneur Adriaan van Well opened the first store, he promised customers: "We all win through cooperation!" SPAR has lived by that principle for more than 90 years, opening fresh-food supermarkets all over the world.
SPAR was founded in the Netherlands in 1932 as DESPAR, a voluntary association of grocers. Its aim was to keep independent wholesalers and retailers working together as large retail chains began to spread across Europe.
SPAR in numbers
SPAR is the world's largest food retail chain, with more than 13,000 stores in almost 50 countries serving millions of shoppers every day. It is a unique voluntary partnership of independent wholesalers and retailers trading under one name.
SPAR began to spread beyond the Netherlands in the late 1940s, with Belgium as the second country. During the 1950s it grew rapidly across Europe. SPAR International was set up in 1953, with Adriaan van Well as its first president, and by 1959 the SPAR family included wholesalers and retailers from nine countries.
In the following decades SPAR kept growing in Europe and also reached other continents: SPAR South Africa was founded in 1963 and SPAR Japan in 1977.
Later SPAR expanded into Eastern Europe, South America, Australia, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. True to its motto, in almost a century SPAR has grown from a small association into a global network trusted by shoppers around the world.
Today SPAR supermarkets also operate in Tajikistan, where Yovar LLC is the official brand representative.
SPAR network news
The international SPAR supermarket chain is now in Tajikistan. SPAR is a Dutch company founded by Adriaan van Well in 1932 as a voluntary association of independent grocers.