Alfa-Vita Vassilopoulos

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"Alfa-Vita Vassilopoulos" (Άλφα-Βήτα Βασιλόπουλος) or simply "AB" is one of the largest supermarket chains in Greece. The company has witnessed a dramatic growth the last few years. They absorbed two Greek super-market chains (albeit much smaller than them, super-markets "Trofo" (Τροφό) and "Ena" (Ένα).

[edit] History

The company was established in 1939 in Athens, Greece when the brothers Gerasimos & Haralambos Vassilopoulos (Γεράσιμος & Χαράλαμπος Βασιλόπουλος) opened a small grocery shop, in Voulis str., downtown Athens. A few years later, they opened a second shop, larger this time, at Stadiou str., Athens.

In 1969, Alfa-Vita Vassilopoulos S.A. (Άλφα-Βήτα Βασιλόπουλος A.E.) was formed. In 1970, the first 'real' supermarket was established in the Faros area of Psichiko (Ψυχικό),Athens. It was built and designed according to European standards, and it was one of the first of its kind in Greece.

By 1989, AB had opened 9 super-markets in the greater Athens area.

In 1991, AB was listed on the Athens Stock Exchange. In the same year the first AB MEGA super-market was opened, in the area of Hellinikon, close to the old Athens Hellinikon International Airport. This shop received an award from the International Association of Retail Traders (Α.Ι.D.Α.) in 1991 for being the best and most comprehensive store in Europe. In the same year AB also opened its first shop outside Athens.

In 1992, a new AB MEGA was built on the Athens-Lamia highway (Εθνική Αθηνών-Λαμίας). In the meanwhile, AB was acquired by the Belgian retail company "Delhaize Group". In 1994, AB was the first super-market company in Greece that inaugurated the barcode system at its cashiers. Also, they introduced the AB series of products, a 'low-cost' private label of alternative products to mainstream ones.

Between 1995-1998, AB opened a largewarehouse sizeed 89.000 m2 in Mandra, Attica (Μάνδρα, Αττική). Meanwhile, they continued to expand in Mainland Greece, Peloponnese and Attica.

By 2000, AB had 53 shops in 11 cities in Greece. On 16th October 2000, AB acquired the TROFO (Τροφό) and ENA Cash-and-Carry (ΈΝΑ Cash-and-Carry) supemarket chains, thus forming the second largest grocery retail chain in Greece in terms of market share. Today (2006), the network of AB consists of 133 shops in total, throughout Greece. In 2005, the company employed a total of 6.744 people.

AB has introduced a bonus-reward programme, dubbed the "AB Plus" card, and a credit card "AB Visa" (in co-operation with the National Bank of Greece), where its customers get some discount and awards.

The Delhaize/AB products are now called "365" and they range from milk to tissues. There is a dedicated corridor for Organic Products in every AB. Many of the ENA or Trofo stores are now branded AB City, a new smaller store format for mainly food products (milk, bread etc.). Albeit with some delay, they have started a recycling programme. During 2005, AB has gone through a slight facelift on their image.