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By Posted on Posted in Hard Discount, Hypermarkets, Retail, Retail Distribution, Supermarkets, Sweden No Comments
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Sweden/Sverige, officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden shares borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.

At 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.4 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometer with the population mostly concentrated in the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas.Sweden’s capital is Stockholm, and with 1.3 million inhabitants, it is also Sweden’s largest city.

The retail scene of the Swedish market is a bit different from other European countries, mainly western ones, where big groups are controlling the mini/super/hyper daily game, while in Sweden, it’s the Swedish retail brands themselves who have full domination of their own field and so far no external player showed up except in the hard-discount format.

Swedish retail market is dominated by 4 local players who, together they manage 97% of the total market size: ICA, COOP, AxFood and Bergendahls.

The hard-discount format also exist, where Lidl (Germany) and Netto (Denmark) are simply enjoying 2% of the total market size and the last 1% are all the rest.

Another store category is working in the shadow silently, the ethnic stores, well organized in Sweden, but with limited dispersion in the populated areas of Stockholm and its suburbs, these stores are mostly owned by immigrants and their surface varies from 100 to 700 sqm.


By Posted on Posted in Brands, Sweden No Comments

When it comes to bottled mineral water, Lebanese are very familiar with Perrier because of its French origins, some other few, can recognize Apollinaris from Germany, but I am not sure how many of you remember when Ramlösa was available in Lebanon during the 90′ and then disappeared from the market.

Ramlösa is a carbonated mineral water from a source in Ramlösa Brunnspark in the southern part of Helsingborg, Sweden. Ramlösa goes back to the year 1707 when a health spa around the source was founded by Johan Jacob Döbelius.

Ramlösa is today a wholly owned subsidiary of the Danish brewery group Carlsberg.

For those non swedish speakers out there: the ad is about a guy who comes too late to work and tries to make silly excuses. Another guy shows up and says: -Sorry guys, I overslept to the first guys embarrassment.

Translation courtesy of: http://insightforinnovation.blogspot.com/

By Posted on Posted in Brands, Fashion, Sweden No Comments

Gant is a formerly Swedish but currently Swiss clothing brand of American heritage launched in New Haven in 1949.

In 1980/1981, Gant entered the international market when Pyramid Sportswear of Sweden was given the right to design and market the Gant brand outside the U.S. Initially, Pyramid only offered the Gant label in Sweden but quickly expanded internationally. In 1995, Phillips-Van Heusen acquired the Gant brand in the U.S. from bankrupt Crystal Brands, Inc. of Connecticut, a sportswear manufacturer.

PVH sold its Gant operations in 1999 to Pyramid Sportswear of Sweden, in which PVH held a 25% stake, for $71.000. Ironically, as the brand’s international licensee, Pyramid had already opened a Gant flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue in 1997. Pyramid Sportswear, which was to become Gant Pyramid AB, eventually turned Gant into a global brand.
In the spring of 2006, Gant became a public company and was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange’s O-List until it was delisted March 2008 and bought by Maus Frères.

As of 2007, Gant is established in 73 countries and their products are available at select retailers and 298 Gant stores worldwide, 18 of which are directly operated by Gant AB.

By 31 January 2008, Maus Frères S.A. of Switzerland, had acquired 95.6 % of the Gant Company AB shares, which completed the take-over.


By Posted on Posted in Restaurants, Sweden No Comments

A cool bistro/restaurant to visit when you are in Stockholm called Mäster Anders.

Founded in 1692 by Anders Månsson Holm in the then rural and sparsely populated island of Kungsholmen.

Food is well prepared and my choice was not disappointing, and they have an excellent crème brûlée to finish with. But the place is extremely noisy and they should have a better aeration.

By Posted on Posted in Sweden No Comments

Stockholm City Hall (Swedish: Stockholms stadshus or Stadshuset locally) is the building of the Municipal Council for the City of Stockholm in Sweden. It stands on the eastern tip of Kungsholmen island, next to Riddarfjärden’s northern shore and facing the islands of Riddarholmen and Södermalm. It houses offices and conference rooms as well as ceremonial halls, and the luxury restaurant Stadshuskällaren. It is the venue of the Nobel Prize banquet and one of Stockholm’s major tourist attractions.

By Posted on Posted in Brands, Sweden No Comments

GB Glace (originally Glace-Bolaget until 1991) is the largest ice cream company in Sweden. It was founded in 1942, and was purchased by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever in 1996. Besides its own traditional brands, it now produces many of the same products as other Unilever Heartbrand subsidiaries.