Retail chains are opening stores at petrol stations in the large Polish service station network to trade on public holidays
The revenues generated by sales of FMCG, such as sweets, bread and
beverages, at petrol stations came to PLN 2.9bn (€708.3m) in 2008, and
the figure is expected to increase to PLN 3.2bn (€781.5m) in 2009, and
PLN 3.5bn (€954.8m) in 2010.
Large retail chains are opening small stores located at their petrol
stations in order to circumvent the prohibition on trading on public
holidays, according to Gazeta Prawna. The operators of supermarkets and
hypermarkets, such as Tesco, Carrefour and Auchan, lose PLN 100,000
(€24,400) for every day on which they do not trade. By way of example,
Tesco which manages 300 establishments in Poland, reports a reduction
of around PLN 30m (€7.3m) in revenues as a result of the trade ban on
public holidays. At present there are 12 public holidays in Poland, and
parliament is working on the introduction of one more, on 6 January.
Intermarche, the supermarket chain which belongs to the Musketeers
group, has therefore started to open mini markets at its petrol
stations, as the latter are allowed to trade on public holidays. It has
already opened two such establishments. Tesco, which owns 24 filling
stations in Poland, may copy Intermarche’s idea and open stores at its
own stations in the near future.
Carrefour has begun to develop its chain of petrol station stores under
the “Carrefour 5 minut” name in cooperation with the petrochemical
company BP. At present, the retailer manages three such establishments
and also supplies BP’s stores. In addition, Piotr i Pawel, the
prominent Polish delicatessen chain, has begun to cooperate with Shell
and has launched three stores at Shell petrol stations. Spar Polska,
the Polish branch of the Dutch retailer, is opening stores at
establishments belonging to the Orlen, Bliska, AS and BP petrochemical
companies.
PetrolWorld 071209 Source: PMR - Polandonline
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