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People just learned what SPAR supermarket actually stands for after 92 years

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People just learned what SPAR supermarket actually stands for after 92 years

SPAR, a household name in Ireland for over six decades, has been serving customers around the world for more than 90 years.

However, many are only just discovering what the acronym SPAR actually stands for. The Dutch multinational franchise was founded by Adriaan van Well in 1932 and now boasts over 13,900 stores across 48 countries, serving a whopping 14.7 million customers daily.




In Ireland alone, SPAR has over 400 stores employing more than 14,000 people. The first SPAR branded store opened its doors in the Netherlands under the name DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR.

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This was an acronym created by Adriaan van Well to act as a catchy slogan for his stores. While we know it simply as SPAR in Ireland today, the brand continues to use the original name in certain parts of the world.

This has led to some confusion, with one puzzled traveller asking on Quora: “Why are SPAR supermarkets called DESPAR in Italy? On SPAR’s website, a statement reads: “, reports the Irish Mirror.

According to a statement on SPAR’s website: “Founded in The Netherlands in 1932, SPAR is the world’s largest grocery chain. Although there is much speculation as to the meaning of the word SPAR with some mistakenly thinking it is derived from the Dutch word for ‘to save’ Besparen, SPAR is in fact an acronym of a Dutch sentence that explains where modern day ‘SPAR’ finds its foundations.”

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