Ninth Aleco store opens in Bremerhaven

When the new Aleco organic supermarket opened in the Lehe district of Bremerhaven on 25.8.2011, getting on for 500 – 600 customers came along to look round, take part in tasting sessions held by wholefood manufacturers or simply to do some shopping. Georg Appel, the managing director and owner of Aleco GmbH, was delighted with the response. The owner of the regional chain started in 1988 with a small-scale delivery service before co-founding with a business partner a wholefood shop in 1992 in a small town to the east of Bremen. Since nobody was creating large-scale and contemporary organic stores in Bremen and the surrounding region, Appel (now 53 years old) has stepped up to the plate in 2004. (Picture: Plenty of interest on the first day: Aleco store in Bremerhaven)
The new Aleco-store in the north of Bremerhaven (120,000 inhabitants) occupies a central location near where two main roads cross and is easily accessible. The former Aldi store, with its 690 m² of retail space, is rather bigger than the stores Appel usually looks for (350-600 m²). “We were very fortunate in being offered this location via Denree, and we’ve got a really nice landlord on the spot,” says Appel. He found the other stores himself, and this was the first time he took advantage of an outside proposal, in this case by Dennree. (Picture: Georg Appel on the launch day)

The store adheres predominantly to the corporate design colours green and yellow, and the impression it makes is friendly and light. Big windows and the words “Aleco – everything organic” tell the world outside that a new organic supermarket has opened here. In the rear of the store is another line of windows that lets in daylight and enables people to look out, and also to look in. On both sides of the store you see skylights (picture on right) that provide supplementary natural light. The rear wall behind the coffee machine for the bistro is dark red, and adjacent to the bistro is the bread and bakery goods counter (picture on left). Six tables, each with four chairs, invite you at any time of the day to enjoy a hot drink and a snack – a piece of cake or pizza, or a croissant.

“Cooperation with Dennree worked very well in getting this store launched,” Appel explains. The national wholesaler checked the suitability of the store, its specialists advised the owner regarding planning the fitting out of the store, and it made available most of the goods on credit in keeping with Dennree’s programme “More space for wholefoods”. In the week before the launch, Dennree sent three of its staff to stack the shelves, with the result that Appel was very pleased with the displays of products. 5,500 food and non-food articles provide the customer with a comprehensive organic range (picture). If you think in terms of ten packs per article, it takes 55,000 hand movements to put the products in the right place on the shelves. A good 180,000 euros were invested in fitting out the new store. They calculate a catchment area of 50,000 – 60,000 inhabitants round the Bremerhaven store, and the situation regarding competition is little short of paradise: the nearest organic supermarkets going north and south are in Cuxhaven and Bremen (approximately 43 km and 67 km away).

For the opening in Bremerhaven, 50,000 Dennree flyers were distributed via the local newspaper. In future, the usual fortnightly store flyer will be distributed to 30,000 households in the northern half of Bremerhaven and surrounding communities. The Aleco customer card, that is received from Dennree, creates a bond between a good 6,000 customers and their organic supermarket. Customers receive a 1% discount on all purchases that is paid out twice a year as a voucher. Good in itself and good for marketing: in recent years one store at a time has been converted to eco-electricity from the local supplier or the company Naturstrom. (Picture: Bio-Planète’s tasting stand)

Since Aleco regards supplying regional food as important, as much as possible is sourced via Naturkost-Kontor, which is an association of regional vegetable producers with a stand at Bremen’s wholesale market. Dairy products (picture) come from local producers. The delivery service, that Appel started his wholefood career with, no longer plays a major role. About 60 households are supplied in the vicinity of his original shop in Sottrum, but it became apparent that the so-called stationary trade with specific shops is more profitable than extending the delivery service. Aleco Bremerhaven has now become a good employer. “We now have over 100 employees, with 12 – 15 in each store,” Appel explains. The administration is located in an office above the 450 m² store in Ottersberg. Apart from the managing director, five people (the equivalent of three full-time jobs) work there. (Picture on left: Allos tasting stand)

Aleco has good prospects. Leaving aside the new store, Georg Appel is registering double digit growth of turnover in 2011, which is above the current industry average of 8 %. He didn’t notice any negative impact from the EHEC bean sprouts scandal – instead, dioxin in eggs in January 2011 and the nuclear disaster in Fukushima were an incentive for many consumers to buy more organics. And this is full circle for Georg Appel. When he experienced the nuclear catastrophe in Chernobyl, he was 28. At that time, as the father of a six-month-old child, he decided he had to do something about healthy living conditions and food. Without capital of his own but with a lot of commitment, he started on his journey. A delivery service, the first little wholefood shop and then followed the big step to larger premises. Just as today, in those days there was abundant customer demand in Ottersberg, a centre of anthroposophy. The first organic supermarket was followed by a second - and presumably it won’t take long for a tenth to be added to the list. His grandson Jonas is today confirmation that he chose the right route to follow. The three-year-old son of Appel’s daughter runs around the new store without a care in the world and of course still has no idea of his grandpa’s progression from dropping out of school, time in the army (“four years of boredom”) to becoming the independent manager of an organic supermarket chain.

Tip: www.alecobio.de

Address	Town	Opening	Retail Space m²
Vogteistraße 2	27367 Sottrum	1992	150
Grüne Straße 19	28870 Ottersberg	1993	425
Kirchweg 204	28199 Bremen	11.2004	750
Bismarckstraße 14	28203 Bremen	11.2006	415
Schillerstraße 4	27472 Cuxhaven	06.2008	650
Verdener Straße 4	27356 Rotenburg (Wümme)	09.2008	560
Rockwinkeler Heerstr. 172	28355 Bremen	06.2009	225
Hamburger Str. 8	21244 Buchholz	05.2011	750
Langener Landstr. 28	27580 Bremerhaven	08.2011	690