Esselunga
S.p.A. is an Italian
retail
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...
store chain. Founded in 1957 by
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
, Bernardo, Guido and Claudio Caprotti, Marco Brunelli, the Crespi family and other Italian associates, the company is now entirely owned by the Caprotti family through Supermarkets Italiani S.p.A.
It was the first supermarket chain in Italy to introduce on-line shopping and self-produced organic products.
With 20,000 employees, the company had a €6.8 billion turnover in 2012. Esselunga controls about 9% of the Italian grocery distribution market. It is ranked as the fourth most profitable company in the European retail sector (in proportion to its size) and it is Italy's 23rd largest company. Until 1999, Esselunga owned 50% of the Italian branch of
Penny Market (a
REWE
Rewe (stylized as REWE; ) is a supermarket chain in Germany and the main brand of Rewe Group headquartered in Cologne. The name originated from an abbreviation of the original name "Revisionsverband der Westkauf-Genossenschaften" (Audit uni ...
group company). Esselunga stores are located mostly in Northern Italy.
Esselunga was entirely owned by
Bernardo Caprotti until his death in 2016,
and is not listed on the stock market.
In his will, Bernardo Caprotti left 66.7% of Esselunga to his second wife Giuliana Albera and their daughter Marina Sylvia, and 16.7% to each of his children from his first marriage, his son Giuseppe Caprotti and his daughter Violetta.
The store's name literally means "long
S".
References
Sources
*
External links
Esselunga(in Italian)
Companies of Italy
Retail companies of Italy
Retail companies established in 1957
Companies based in Milan
Italian companies established in 1957
{{Italy-company-stub