AB Vassilopoulos

Supermarket chain AB Vassilopoulos is following up its "cohabitation" deal with Holland & Barrett of the Fourlis group and the Polish chain of clothing and home goods Pepco, with agreements with food service chains - mainly fast food, such as kebabs, pizza etc - which they will operate within the large supermarkets.

Greece is transforming into a hub for exporting quality agri-food products as Minister of Development Kostas Skrekas stressed at the opening of the modern export hub of AB Vassilopoulos supermarkets in Thessaloniki.

Large supermarket companies are now fighting the battle for greater market shares in hypermarkets, as contrary to forecasts that this category would suffer due to inflationary pressures, it is growing at a much higher rate than the overall growth in the sector.

Retail stores in Greece will remain closed on Tuesday, reopening again on Wednesday.

Some exceptions have been announced, with supermarket chains AB Vassilopoulos and Lidl announcing they will remain open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday. The same schedules will be generally observed in Piraeus, Thessaloniki, and Patras.

With a turnover of 9.26 billion euros and net profits of over 145 million euros, the big 7 of the organized retail sector were the most profitable in the domestic retail trade in 2020.

Greece's three main supermarket chains, Sklavenitis, AB Vassilopoulos and MyMarket, appear to be the biggest winners from the massive rise in turnover in organized food retail. However, small retailers, minimarkets and grocers were among the winners, demonstrating quick reflexes in response to the new needs created by the coronavirus lockdown.

Leading supermarket chain AB Vassilopoulos on Thursday reported a 3 percent decline in turnover last year, to 2.1 billion euros from 2.17 billion in 2016.

The drop was attributed to continuing price and offers campaigns and the shifts in the sector that last year saw the reopening of the former Marinopoulos stores under the Sklavenitis brand.

With many Greeks leaving the larger cities for the summer holidays, large supermarket chains have taken their battle for a slice of the market beyond their traditional stomping ground.

Five Greek companies are among the 110 in Europe to have gone through to the second stage of the European Business Awards 2016/17 sponsored by RSM, having been named Ruban d'Honneur Recipients.