uses see spar disambiguation . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message spar type public industry retail founded 1932 headquarters amsterdam netherlands products grocery stores convenience stores discount stores hypermarkets and more revenue 31.1 billion 2011 website 2 spar store in city tower manchester united kingdom spar trademarked as spar is a dutch multinational retail chain 1 and franchise brand with approximately 12 500 stores in 35 countries worldwide . it was founded in 1932 by adriaan van well . through its affiliate organisations spar operates through most european countries parts of africa asia and oceania . 2 its headquarters are in amsterdam . 3 contents 1 etymology 2 history 3 store types 4 company slogans 5 international statistics 2014 6 see also 7 notes 8 references 9 external links etymology edit the name was originally de spar an acronym of the dutch phrase door eendrachtig samenwerken profiteren allen regelmatig note 1 english through united co operation everyone regularly profits . the acronym was chosen is order to resonate with the verb spar or spaar which means save money in some languages among them dutch german 4 and scandinavian . de spar also happens to be a dutch word for the spruce hence spar s logo . as the organisation expanded across europe the name was abbreviated by dropping the de prefix . citation needed there are some international naming variants in italy the name is still despar though in keeping with the international branding the spar section of the logo is highlighted and the larger stores are still called eurospar and interspar . in austria despar is spar s italian food store brand . 5 in japan some stores operate under the name hotspar although the store logo colouring remains unchanged . citation needed history edit spar store in moerkapelle netherlands spar was founded in 1932 in the south holland town of zegwaart now zoetermeer . in 1953 an international spar office opened in amsterdam to control and further develop the organisation throughout europe and other continents . most spar stores are in europe but they can also be found in a few countries outside of europe such as oman nigeria south africa botswana namibia zimbabwe zambia swaziland australia 6 mauritius china india japan vanuatu greenland 7 and angola . a spar store may be owned independently by a franchisee or be part of a chain depending on the model applied in any given country . the owners of the parent company vary from country to country and may include the store owners themselves . the name and the current logo was most recently revised in 1968 by raymond loewy and has remained unchanged ever since . 8 in the united kingdom spar has become known primarily as a convenience store although in northern ireland spar operates using the subformat eurospar as well . the company also has a large presence in the republic of ireland where it also uses the eurospar subformat . spar opened in the republic of vanuatu on december 1 2009 ending au bon march s grocery monopoly . since 1996 the company has been a major sponsor of the european athletic association and its events . 9 in 1997 spar was introduced to most united kingdom military bases by the navy army and air force institutes naafi where it sells a variety of civilian and military products . 10 the dutch spar is a member of superunie an inventory purchasing organization for a number of otherwise unaffiliated supermarket brands . citation needed in july 2014 spar group south africa opened its first supermarket in angola . in august 2014 the group acquired 80 % of the bwg group which had outlets in ireland and southwest england . 11 in 2015 ahold bought all czech stores and converted them into albert super and hypermarkets however it had to get rid of some stores in order not to have a monopoly . citation needed the first spar store in oman was inaugurated in january 2015 in muscat . citation needed spar oman plans to open more stores in the coming months as part of its expansion plans in oman . citation needed in march 2015 the first three stores in indonesia were opened . citation needed twelve stores are planned to open in the country by the end of 2015 . citation needed store types edit spar store in laiwu china in most but not all countries spar operates stores of different types and sub brands . 12 interspar store in hungary eurospar superspar the eurospar name is used in europe and superspar in south africa . these are mid sized supermarkets . they are designed to fit in a niche between convenience stores and traditional supermarkets . citation needed interspar these are hypermarkets and compete directly against major international chains such as real carrefour and tesco . 13 14 spar express a filling station with a spar express store in wattens austria this is the smallest type of store . they are designed for small sites and filling station forecourts . they are called kwikspar in south africa . citation needed spar drive thru there was a drive thru spar on the cliftonville road in belfast northern ireland . this has now been converted to a centra store and still has a drive thru . 15 spar gourmet some small spar stores in austria are called spar gourmet since the austrian spar group took over the supermarket chains julius meinl in 2000 . the standard range is extended to local and global delicacies . 16 company slogans edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message feel the taste of spar austrian slogan alles da da da everything there there there austrian interspar slogan always close to you spanish slogan under the tree at spar ireland english language slogan ba za mene inter par za mene perfect for me interspar for me croatian interspar slogan big on value expect a little more previous northern irish eurospar slogans dobro zame good for me slovenian slogan du kjenner oss you know us norwegian slogan good for you south african slogan j hely j r j d nt s good place good price good decision most used hungarian slogan previously frissess g min s g rub s g freshness quality plenty of products was used in catalogs in the 2000s mindig spar always spar was used in advertisements in the 2000s and n s a spar sszeill p r you and spar a matching pair in the 1990s live life better india slogan . making everyday better australian slogan previously good food easy shopping more passion for good prices romanian slogan my botswana my spar botswana slogan . my spar south african slogan quello che vuoi tu e un po di pi what you want and a little more italian slogan so near so spar united kingdom slogan spar is de boodschap the original dutch slogan a play on the double meaning of boodschap grocery and message spar there for you current united kingdom slogan spar der hvor du kan spar where you can a play on spar meaning save money in danish current danish slogan the super easy supermarket irish eurospar slogan . there for you united kingdom slogan under the tree at spar former irish slogan jingle still retained today wat je dichtbij haalt is lekker what you get from close by is good the current dutch slogan ; it is a play on the dutch saying what you get from far is good we got spar united kingdom slogan 1990s mijn buurt mijn spar my neighbourhood my spar is the new slogan since 2014 international statistics 2014 edit country sales in 000 s 17 no . of stores 17 sales area m 17 sales per area average store size m 17 year nationwide owner angola 6 558 1 1 200 5 465 m 1 200 2014 the spar group ltd. australia 178 801 128 43 250 4 134 m 338 1994 spar australia austria 5 910 000 1 539 1 089 677 5 424 m 708 1954 spar austria group 18 azerbaijan 2015 azretail mmc belgium 887 266 281 141 799 6 257 m 505 1947 colruyt and lambrechts botswana 117 548 28 28 793 4 083 m 1 028 2004 the spar group ltd. cameroon 2015 spar cameroon china 1 786 000 299 955 833 1 869 m 3 197 2004 spar china croatia 317 936 50 87 384 3 638 m 1 748 2004 spar austria group 18 denmark 868 835 198 141 821 6 126 m 716 1954 spar denmark france 964 328 937 245 166 3 933 m 262 1955 casino georgia 4 584 6 1 032 4 442 m 172 2014 foodmart germany 310 000 425 34 799 8 908 m 82 1953 edeka greece 525 601 184 141 107 3 725 m 767 1969 veropoulos hungary 1 584 034 456 404 794 3 805 m 888 1992 spar austria group 18 india 35 630 16 71 522 0 498 m 4 470 2014 max hypermarkets indonesia 7 2015 ramayana lestari sentosa ireland 1 101 190 424 112 742 9 767 m 266 1963 bwg foods italy 3 119 453 1 385 790 969 3 944 m 571 1959 spar austria group 18 japan 48 402 74 8 173 5 922 m 110 1997 hokkaido spar malawi 1 460 1 1 650 0 885 m 1 650 2014 spar malawi mauritius 20 952 6 5 700 3 676 m 950 2000 casino mozambique 40 271 3 6 451 6 243 m 2 150 2012 the spar group ltd. namibia 132 053 28 30 517 4 327 m 1 090 2004 the spar group ltd. netherlands 431 618 244 98 506 4 382 m 404 1932 spar holding b.v. nigeria 63 975 6 7 826 8 175 m 1 304 2009 spar nigeria norway 1 493 971 265 153 194 9 752 m 578 1984 norgesgruppen oman 2015 khimji ramdas poland 153 968 186 48 229 3 192 m 259 1995 spar polska portugal 66 875 96 31 581 2 118 m 329 2006 novo retalho qatar 2016 qatar national import and export co. russia 1 443 675 420 285 199 5 062 m 679 2000 spar russia slovenia 729 574 92 146 873 4 967 m 1 596 1992 spar austria group 18 south africa 4 255 000 821 933 886 4 556 m 1 137 1963 the spar group ltd. spain 1 312 472 1 146 436 538 3 007 m 381 1959 spar espa ola switzerland 498 919 181 74 228 6 721 m 410 1989 spar handels ag ukraine 12 200 11 7 700 1 584 m 700 2001 spar luhansk spar kharkiv united arab emirates 54 488 4 6 200 8 788 m 1 550 2011 spar united arab emirates united kingdom 3 193 224 2 352 350 240 9 117 m 149 1956 spar uk zambia 79 106 15 26 974 2 933 m 1 798 2003 spar zambia zimbabwe 156 467 43 30 381 5 150 m 707 1969 see also edit amsterdam portal companies portal food portal notes edit dutch pronunciation do r e n dr xt x sa m n rk n pro fi te r n l n re l ma t x references edit spar corporate nationality spar . spar.ie . retrieved 2 october 2014 . spar countries spar . spar int.com . archived from the original on 29 june 2013 . retrieved 1 october 2013 . contact information spar . spar int.com . retrieved 1 october