Germanos () is a Greek holding company based in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. The Germanos chain of stores is a multinational rook chain of retail electronic goods vendors. They specialize in offering electronic devices such as computers, digital cameras, mp3 players and mobile phones. They also offer fixed and mobile telephony as well as internet.

History

The Group started as a battery shop in Athens in 1980 and since then has expanded into retail when it opened its first store by the same year. In 2003 Germanos in a joint operation with Folli Follie bought a 40% stake of the Hellenic Duty Free shops. In 2006 it was acquired by Cosmoholding Cyprus Ltd., a subsidiary of the mobile operator

Cosmote Cosmote Telekom, known as just Cosmote, is the largest mobile network operator in Greece and it is a division of the OTE, Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE), the incumbent telecommunications provider in Greece. Cosmote also operates ...

Battery manufacturing

Germanos Group's focus is battery manufacturing for vehicles and electronic devices, while the retail part of electronic goods is given to the chain of stores by the same name.

Cosmote controversy

In the beginning Germanos stores offered in Greece mobile connections with Telestet (now WIND Greece) and

. Later, in 2005 Vodafone Greece gave permission to Germanos to offer its connections. In 2006 when a subsidiary of Cosmote bought the company, Wind and Vodafone pulled their support from the stores, stating that it would lead to unfair treatment towards them in order to enhance support to its in-house mobile operator.

Environment

The Germanos Group has been operating a battery recycling program called ''Dias Bat'' since 2004. In every Germanos Store batteries are collected and given for

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

, thus reducing the negative effect of battery consumption to the environment.

International expansion

Germanos stores expanded throughout the last years in Greece, Cyprus and many Eastern European countries counting as of 2007 960 retail points. Germanos retail stores are found in: *

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

(sold to Telekom Slovenije) *

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Germanos Group website (in Greek)
Retail companies of Greece Companies based in Athens Greek brands