Billa (supermarket)

BILLA (German pronunciation: [ˈbɪla] (listen)) is an Austrian supermarket chain that operates throughout Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.[1] The company, which was founded by Karl Wlaschek in 1953, is currently owned by Germany's REWE Group.

Billa AG
Private
IndustryRetail
Founded1953
FounderKarl Wlaschek 
HeadquartersWiener Neudorf, Austria
Number of locations
3,645 stores (2014)
Key people
Robert Nagele,
Elke Wilgmann
ProductsSupermarkets
Revenue € 13.02 billion (2014)
OwnerREWE International AG
Number of employees
76,174 (2014)
Websitewww.billa.at
Billa Vienna-Schwechat
Billa Flagship-Store in Vienna
On the outskirts, more adventurous designs can be found. This Billa store is in Favoriten, Vienna

The chain's name is a portmanteau of "billiger Laden", German for 'cheaper shop'.[2]

Billa in Europe
Billa in Europe

Billa operates stores in these 6 European countries:

Country No. of stores
Austria 1,102
Czech Republic 233
Russia 172
Slovakia 145
Bulgaria 121
Ukraine 34

Billa also had locations in Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania but all of those had since been sold to other supermarket chains. In 2002, all 21 Billa stores in Hungary were sold to Spar.[3] In 2009, all 14 Billa stores in Poland were sold to E.Leclerc.[4] In 2016, all 86 Billa stores in Romania were sold to Carrefour.[5] The same year, all 62 Billa stores in Croatia were sold to Spar.[6]

Billa in Bulgaria

The company opened its first supermarket in Bulgaria in 2000 and has since then expanded to cover 35 Bulgarian cities, operating a total of 119 supermarkets as of September 2016.

In June 2006, the roof of one of the stores in Sofia collapsed during a storm. There were no injuries reported. There was an investigation to determine the reason for the poor quality of the construction work and whether the same problems are present at other Billa stores in the country, with 11 people eventually going to court.[7]

Billa in the Czech Republic

The first Billa supermarket in the Czech Republic was opened in Stránského Street, Brno, on 26 October 1991. The company now has 215 stores in the country and employs more than 6,000 staff. Billa stores, which have an average sales area of 900 m2, place particular emphasis on fresh products such as delicacies, pastries, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, meat, and chilled products.[8]

Billa in Romania

Billa was owned by Rewe Group, which also operates XXL, Penny Market and Selgros outlets in Romania. The company used the tagline Billa zilnic - Cel mai bun pentru mine ("Billa daily - The best for me") and opened its first store in Bucharest in 1999. Since then, Billa has turned into one of the most well represented supermarket chains, with 87 stores (as of September 2016) in Romania.[9] In 2015, all Billa stores were sold to Carrefour Group,[10] and by the end of 2017 will be rebranded into Carrefour Market.[11]

Billa in Russia
Billa supermarket in Moscow

Rewe Group operates 151 stores 'Billa' in Russia (most of them in Moscow). The company opened its first supermarket in Russia in 2004 and has since then expanded to cover Moscow and a few cities around it.[12]

See also

References
  1. 30.05.2006, 00:00 (2006-05-30). "Unternehmen & Märkte « Archiv «". Wirtschaftsblatt.at. Retrieved 2015-09-23.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. "BILLA, sagt der Hausverstand | BILLA". Billa.at. Retrieved 2015-09-23.
  3. "Ungarische Billa-Märkte wurden an Spar verkauft - 14 Märkte mit 39 Mill". Euro Umsatz - Wiener Zeitung Online. 2002-09-12. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  4. "Rewe Group sells supermarkets in Poland to E.Leclerc". FoodBev Media. 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  5. "Approval of the acquisition of Billa supermarkets in Romania". Carrefour Group website. 2016-06-29. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  6. "SPAR acquires 62 BILLA stores in Croatia". Spar International website. 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  7. "Стандарт - Новини, които си струва да споделим". Standartnews.com. 2013-03-22. Archived from the original on 2008-03-05. Retrieved 2015-09-23.
  8. https://www.billa.cz/specialfolder/footer/o-nas Billa homepage: "About us" (in Czech)
  9. "BILLA inaugurează un magazin în Timișoara și ajunge la 80 de unități în România" (in Romanian). retail-fmcg.ro. 30 October 2013.
  10. Carrefour a cumpărat BILLA şi devine cel mai mare retailer din România
  11. Cum arată strategia Carrefour pentru formatul de supermarket după integrarea Billa
  12. «Билла» открыла 151 магазин в России.
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