Saudi Spar to open 40 branches by 2020

Saudi Spar set up its first three branches in Saudi Arabia on Thursday and plans to increase the number of branches to eight in the next 10 months.
Al-Sadhan group, established in 1952, is the owner of Spar in Saudi Arabia. Amsterdam-based supermarket group Spar International, one of the biggest food retail stores in the world, has more than 12,500 branches distributed in 48 different countries over four continents.
Following a tour in Al-Yasmine, Al-Mounsiya and Al-Nuzha neighborhoods, Mohammed Al-Sadhan, board director of Al-Sadhan group, and Tobias Wasmuht, Spar International’s managing director, held a press conference in Riyadh, in the presence of the deputy to the Dutch ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Al-Sadhan said that the retail industry in Saudi Arabia was growing rapidly due to favorable economic, social, political and demographic factors. He said that the growing population of young men and women and growing GDP and purchasing power were also factors that had made investors’ trust stronger.
He said that the opening of the first Spar branches in Saudi Arabia had been in Riyadh because it was the capital and the Kingdom’s economic hub. The success of Spar in Riyadh would help to spread the brand in the Kingdom’s other cities. “We are planning to open 40 branches by 2020,” he said.
“Al-Sadhan group will benefit from the partnership with Spar as it will allow us many advantages including special products, design and operating support services,” he said. “As Spar will expand and grow in the Middle East, Saudi Spar will be able to offer many other products and discover joint purchasing initiatives with other partners in the region.”
He said that the support of King Salman’s government had contributed to the confidence Spar International felt in opening branches in the region. Under Vision 2030, the company would be making all efforts to provide job opportunities for Saudis.
Spar International’s managing director said the approach followed by Spar internationally reflected its capacity to work successfully in all forms and to offer competitive prices and the best local and international services. On the partnership with Al-Sadhan, Wasmuht said: “it reflects a very productive and positive experience. “We are looking forward to this new and independent project.”
Wasmuht added: “Spar International will cooperate with Saudi Spar to register the products with the relevant authorities of the European, local and other markets in the Middle East. We are also seeking to have special products sold in our branches.”
“Spar International will provide its partners with an analytic study of other markets as well as the necessary support related to logistic development and branch design, as well as training employees on the retail operation, procurement management, development of marketing operations and in getting Spar special products from international partners,” he said.