Billa (supermarket)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the company. For the Indian movies see Billa (1980) starring Rajinikanth or Billa (2007) starring Ajith Kumar.
| BILLA AG | |
|---|---|
| Type | Subsidiary of REWE-Zentral |
| Founded | 1953 |
| Headquarters | Wiener Neudorf, Austria |
| Key people | Wolfgang Wimmer, CEO Stefan Gesselbauer, CFO |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Supermarkets |
| Employees | 16.320 (2007) |
| Website | www.billa.at |
Billa is a European supermarket chain operating in numerous countries, originating in Austria. It is owned by Germany's Rewe Group.
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[edit] Billa in Austria
Billa was founded in 1953 by Karl Wlaschek under the name WKW (Warenhandel Karl Wlaschek). The name Billa, standing for Billiger Laden ("cheap store"), was adopted in 1960. The chain grew quickly during the following decades, with revenue topping one billion Austrian shillings in 1970. In 1996, Billa was acquired by Rewe, and, following the demise of the Konsum and Meinl groups, became Austria's largest supermarket chain, with a 35.8% market share in 2002. In some areas of the country, particularly in Vienna, Billa is almost a monopoly, as hardly any supermarket other than Billa or its other franchises (Merkur, Mondo/Penny, Emma and Bipa) can be found.
While typical Billa supermarkets are urban stores of about 450 square meters per outlet, the group's hypermarkets operate under the brand name Merkur.
[edit] Billa in Europe
Billa operates stores in these 10 European countries:
| Country | Number of stores | |
 Austria |
1000+ | |
 Bulgaria |
32 | |
 Croatia |
49 | |
 Czech Republic |
119 | |
 Italy |
67 | |
 Poland |
24 | |
 Romania |
28 | |
 Russia |
35 | |
 Slovakia |
89 | |
 Ukraine |
10 |
[edit] Billa in Bulgaria
The company opened its first hypermarket in Bulgaria in 2000 and has since then expanded to cover 22 Bulgarian cities, operating a total of 32 hypermarkets. Several others are in construction or in planning.The new Billa hypermarkets will be in veliko Tarnovo,Sandanski and there will be a second BILLA hypermarket in Sliven.
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.[1] Starting October 31, 2007, 11 people are going to be tried for the collapsed roof. If convicted, It is expected that they will be fined up to 1000 leva (approx. US$700) each.
[edit] Billa in Romania
Billa is owned by Rewe Group, which also operates XXL, Penny Market and Selgros outlets in Romania. The company uses the tagline Billa - Cel mai bun pentru mine ("Billa - 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 28 stores in Romania:
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Billa's stores are generally referred to as hypermarkets, due to their size and accompanying infrastructure. Billa's newest Bucharest store has an area of 2000 sq. metres, with a parking lot for 200 cars, employs 100 people and stocks 7,500 products. Despite the sizable investment, Billa's Romanian operations recorded a profit of 5.99 million new lei (1.6 million euro) in 2001. A 2001 plan called for 50 stores by 2005. While this goal was not achieved, the supermarket is expanding at a very quick rate.
[edit] Gallery
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[edit] References
- ^ "Prosecutor: BILLA Stores in Bulgaria Are Dangerous" (English). standartnews.com (November 27, 2006).
