Organic supermarkets in 2011: chains open many more stores

In 2011, 16 new specialist organic stores (200 – 400 m²) and 50 organic supermarkets (over 400 m²) were opened – including five relocations with expansion of retail space. Research by Organic-Market.Info has revealed that, by the end of the year, a total of 30,000 m² of retail space in 66 large-scale stores was created (loss of retail area arising from relocation or taking over businesses has been factored in). Above all, it was the big chains that determined the pace, and they occupied many of the new premises.
(Graphic: Openings of specialist organic stores and organic supermarkets since 2000)Information compiled by Organic-Market.Info shows that, at the beginning of 2012 in Germany, there are 625 specialist organic stores and organic supermarkets with retail space in excess of 200 m². Since 2000, between 25 and 83 of these large-scale specialist wholefood stores have been launched every year, with 2007 being the high point. Since then, between 60 and 70 expansions of existing premises and new openings have taken place annually. The data for 2011 are in line with these figures. (Picture: Pro Biomarkt in Kassel, former Alnatura Kassel)

In 2010, new specialist stores and organic supermarkets numbered 65, of which 14 were relocations with expansion of retail space. By the end of 2010, 29, 539 m² of new retail space had been created, which is a good 1 % above the results for 2011 (loss of space through closure is included in the calculation). The demise of the Vierlinden chain alone in February/March 2011 contributed 2,190 m² to the figures for closures and takeovers. Two of the stores were sold to Denn’s (Cologne-Deutz and Munich), two others were renovated, altered and renamed Temma stores, and one was closed.

In 2011, in terms of new openings the chains, with 52 new stores (about 79 %), were way ahead of the owner-managed stores (14 openings representing 21 %).
23 new Denn’s Bio stores alone gave rise to this clear shift in power. The majority of the new retail areas created last year (25,775 m² = 80 %) were attributable to Alnatura, Denn’s Bio, Bio Company and the other chains. In 2010, the figure was “only” 53 %.

The average retail space per newly opened specialist organic store/organic supermarket was 490 m², which is less than 1 % higher than the previous year (487 m²). For years, the average sales area in newly opened stores in this category has hovered between 400 and 500 m². There is still no general trend towards 800 – 1,200 m². Nevertheless, there are companies venturing into this order of magnitude: LPG in Berlin in 2011 and Bio-Mammut in Heilbronn.

The owner of Bio-Mammut is Roland Harter (picture). Bio-Mammut GmbH is the successor of Echt biomarkt GmbH in Lauffen (11,000 inhabitants) that started by opening a 450 m² store in July 2008. In the spring of 2011, Harter opened a 1,000 m² store in a prime ground-level location in a shopping centre in Heilbronn (122,000 inhabitants). Of the more than 15,000 articles, 75 % are food and 25 % non-food. With an extensive range of books, toys, household items, textiles, shoes, cosmetics and household cleaners, Bio-Mammut’s offer is comparable to that of, for example, Naturata in Cologne. Bodan is Bio-Mammut’s main supplier.

The distribution according to federal state produces the following picture: in the lead is Bavaria, with 17 new specialist organic stores/organic supermarkets. It is followed by Baden-Württemberg and Berlin, each with 12 new openings. North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony each had six new stores. The figure for Hamburg is 5 new organic supermarkets, Hessen 4, Saxony 2 and Schleswig-Holstein 2. The figures confirm the trend over the years, namely that the south of Germany appears to be more organic-savvy than the rest of the country. In 2011, with only two new openings, the position of the federal states in the east of Germany was unfortunately again weaker.

What are the prospects for 2012? Will it be a year of closures, or will the trend of recent years with 60 – 70 new openings continue? What is certain is that the competition between the big organic chains - there are now 19 of them – will get increasingly fierce. New organic chains with five or more outlets among the 19 are Grüner Markt and Vitalia. Although most good premises are already occupied, the density of locations is increasing, and this will result in the smaller chains and independent operators being put at a disadvantage.
Alnatura, Denn’s and Bio Company have already announced a number of new openings.