Strong growth for organic chains in 2010

In terms of openings, in 2010 the chains, with 36 new stores (55 %), were clearly ahead of the 29 new owner-managed stores (45 %). There was a similar difference in the size of stores: Alnatura, Bio Company, Denn’s Bio and other chains (in total approximately 16,829 m²) accounted for about 53 % (2009: 61 %) of the newly created retail space. The number of chains in Germany is still 17.
(Picture: Denn’s Bio moved into the lead with 18 new stores in 2010)
In the case of Kompledo AG and Vierlinden, one is no longer a chain and the other is now defunct. According to the research carried out by Organic-Market.Info, the aggregate sales area of all the chains is now 141,455 m² which translates into an average of 539 m² per store.

Currently there are 17 companies in Germany, each with at least five retail outlets, that operate a total of 262 stores. However, there are just a few cases of stores not exceeding the 200 m² that is used by Organic-Market.Info as the yardstick to define large-scale specialist stores and organic supermarkets.

Thus almost half of all organic specialist stores and organic supermarkets (45 %) belong to a chain, and six of these chains expanded in 2010 by opening at least one new store. Leading the field is Denn’s Bio, with 18 new outlets, followed by Alnatura, with eight new stores. The average retail area of the new stores that formed the basis of our evaluation for 2010 is 467 m². This figure is 45 m² (9 %) less than the new stores opened by single operators, that were on average 512 m². According to our calculations, the average retail area of all new openings in 2010 is 487 m².

Alnatura continued to be in the lead in 2010 in terms of the number of stores and since December it has been operating a total of 59 organic supermarkets. In 2010 the company, that is based in Hessen, opened eight SuperNaturMarkt stores across the whole of Germany – in Berlin (picture), Bonn, Heidelberg, Ingolstadt, Cologne, Munich (2 stores) and Wiesbaden. The size of Alnatura’s new openings in 2010 is on average 539 m². The turnover of the company’s SuperNaturMarkt stores in the last financial year ending in September 2010 was ca. 200 million euros.

Bio-Company’s achievement last year was four new stores and the expansion of one store in Berlin (picture below on left). The chain now has 19 outlets, with a total of 9,900 m² of retail space. One store on the outskirts of Hamburg was closed. Bio-Company is already planning to open three new stores in 2011 – in February in Charlottenburg, in March in the Mitte district of Berlin and in August in Friedrichshain.

With the opening of a sixth store in St. Ingbert in December, the family Leimroth’s BioFrischMarkt stores in Saarland are continuing their regional expansion. The average retail area of the stores is 333 m².

With 18 new organic supermarkets, Denn’s Bio was in the lead. The company opened its new stores in Brunnthal, Elmshorn, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Gröbenzell, Hamburg-Bergedorf, Hanau, Hanover, Heilbronn, Hof, Cologne, Kornwestheim, Minden, Münster, Nürnberg, Rastatt, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Töpen and Velbert. By the end of the year, Denn’s Bio was operating 54 stores with a total of 28,661 m² of retail area.

The Franconian chain ebl (picture) has its headquarters in Nuremberg where it opened one new store and relocated two stores to bigger premises in 2010. The 17 ebl wholefood stores have at their disposal an estimated retail area of 7,500 m².

BioSuperMarkt AG, with managing director Michael Radau at the helm, relocated one of its stores to bigger premises in the Gievenbeck district of Münster in July. His company currently operates 15 stores.

The expansion is set to continue in 2011: Alnatura, Bio-Company, ebl, LPG, Tagwerk and VollCorner are either planning new specialist stores or have opened some already.