The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Spar

  • OneCard, SPAR Park n Shop partner

    Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company that provides top up solutions on multiple platforms, OneCard Nigeria, has announced its partnership with SPAR; the largest chain of hypermarket stores in Nigeria. The partnership introduces the sale of airtime in all SPAR Park n Shop outlets across the country.

    Shoppers can now purchase airtime of all the major networks in the country; Airtel, Etisalat, Glo, MTN, Visafone and Multi-links right from the stores. They can choose any amount they desire; from as low as N10 to N50, 000. Additionally,’ change’ to settle bills will not be a challenge, as shoppers will have opportunity of settling the change issue with airtime.

    Speaking on the partnership, the General Manager, OneCard Nigeria, Femi Muka,  said, it is firm’s desire to constantly raise the bar in provision of easy and convenient top up solutions to all Nigerians while also ensuring that the solutions are easily accessible. He expressed OneCard’s delight in the partnership with SPAR who has for several decades provided Nigerians a first class shopping experience. He, therefore, employed all Nigerians to enjoy the SPAR experience.

    Also speaking on the partnership, Mr John Goldsmith of SPAR said the firm is committed to providing Nigerians with an ever growing range of high quality consumer goods that meet their daily needs, bundled with world class shopping experience. He therefore expressed his delight in the partnership with OneCard as it offers shoppers a stress-free alternative to topping up airtime right from the store. New SPAR stores are lined for launch across Nigeria, among which are the MM2 and Ilupeju stores which will be the first ones to start. SPAR looks forward to offering airtime top up services to its customers at their new stores from the very first day of operation.

  • ‘Why Spar is major tenant in Abia Mall’

    The choice of Spar as the maintenant in the new Abia Mall in Umuahia has been attributed to global rating which placed the retail chain as the world best the retail business.

    This assertion was made by the Abia Commissioner for Informa-tion, Hon. Chikamayo Eze during a meeting with key stakeholders and retailers in Lagos.

    He said having a great retail chain, such as Spar, in the mall, will  reposition the state capital as a commercial hub.

    The mall, which is the newest addition to the growing retail space in Nigeria, is set to open for business in April 2015.  The fully-digital mall, with 24-hour power supply and free parking space, considered a one-stop destination for dining, shopping, entertainment, banking and telecommunications, would boost the economy of Abia State in the region of 10 per cent to 15 per cent, said Eze.

    According to the property developer, Pro-M Limited, the convenience of a fully air-conditioned mall housed within an area of 11,557 square metres will soon be within the reach of everyone in Abia. The mall is set to contribute to the continuous economic growth in the East such as provision of jobs to its immediate environs.

    Recently, there has been renaissance of mall culture around the country. Started with Palm Shopping Mall in 2004, which was commissioned by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the major state capitals and cities have experienced the establishment of mega shopping acres.

    According to Eze, the government has no reason in the management of businesses but would create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the state. Government has no business in running this, the beauty of government today is to provide enabling environment for private people to operate and to provide amenity to the community, because the essence of governance is welfare of the people, is not management of business.”

    Explaining the economic viability of the project in the state, Director, Abia Retail Company, Chuka Okoye said that the mall alone would generate over 1600 direct and indirect jobs in the state capital. He, however, assured tenants that the mall management has put in place arrangement to promote good business relationship hence to encourage growing businesses.

    “We have over 60 per cent of the mall occupied already, we have dragged global brands like SPAR and others to Abia State,” Okoye said.

     

  • More Spar Shopping Malls for Port Harcout

    More Spar Shopping Malls for Port Harcout

    Impressed with the patronage from residents of the Garden City, the management of Spar Shopping Mall, which has just opened shop in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, is set to expand to other parts of the metropolis.

    The International Retail Development Officer of Spar International, Mr Evan Christophides and Artee Group Officer, Mr John Goldsmith made this known in Port Harcourt.

    Goldsmith told The Nation: “Our expansion plans are both in terms of width and depth of cities and stores. We would be looking at having multiple stores within the same cities to leverage economies of scale along with spreading across cities.”

    On why Spar  came to Port Harcourt, Goldsmith said Artee Industries Limited, a pioneer in retail business, had been operating  in Nigeria in the past 26 years with the name “Park n Shop”.

    Prior to joining Spar International, Park n Shop stores were in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt but since 2010, Artee Industries opened new stores with the name Spar and  rechristened the existing ones Spar Park n Shop.

    He added: “As a part of the pan-Nigeria expansion plan, we will be covering many key cities across Nigeria, and Port Harcourt is definitely one of them.”

    On the relationship between Artee group and Spar, Goldsmith said Artee Industries took the master franchise of Spar brand from Spar International to Nigeria and that they were working a massive roll out plan of stores under the Spar.

    He also said: “In the coming years, people across many cities in Nigeria will have a first-hand experience of shopping in Spar.”

    On the strength of their workforce and how they are coping with them, the Artee group officer explained: “Retail as choice of career is at its infancy in Nigeria and hence we face multiple challenges in terms of well-trained manpower suitable for retail.”

    They have, however, “worked around it by developing a robust programmed to train and develop the local manpower to global standard”.

    Christophides said the organisation was founded in 1932 in Zoetemeer, Netherlands by  Adriaan van Well.

    Spar has licences operates in Angola, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Georgia, and Greece.

    It also operates in Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    Despite the presence of the firm in about  38 countries, the management is not resting on its oars; it is planning to open shops in Qatar, Lebanon, Oman and Georgia later this year or early next year.

    On the message they have for Port Harcourt residents, they said  Spar has come to change the way people shop in Port Harcourt “by creating stores which will deliver world-class shopping experience not only to the people of Port Harcourt but to the adjoining places in and around Port Harcourt”.

    This is because “our endeavour is focused around choice, service and value”, they added.