føtex is a
Danish chain of
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...
s. The business was established in 1960 as the first supermarket in Denmark and later gave rise to
Salling Group
Salling Group A/S (formerly Dansk Supermarked A/S) is Denmark's largest retailer, with a market share around 34%. It operates several chains of stores, including Netto, Føtex, Bilka, and Salling. Additionally, it holds franchise rights for S ...
(previously Dansk Supermarked Group).
The name "føtex" is a mix of the Danish words ''"Fødevarer"'' (daily groceries) and ''"Textil"'' (textiles).
History
Herman Salling opened the first føtex in 1960 in the street ''"Guldsmedgade"'' in the city of
Ã…rhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Ã…rhus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...
in
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
.
Føtex in many ways revolutionized the way in which the Danes shopped: this was the first time the Danes saw a non-food (electronics, clothes, perfumes, books etc.) and a food department gathered under one roof.
In 1964,
Herman Salling, ancestor of
Ferdinand Salling, realized that to compete with other initiatives starting in those years, he needed a strong financial support. He contacted the
A.P. Møller-Mærsk Group
(), usually known simply as Maersk ( ), is a Danish shipping and logistics company founded in 1904 by Arnold Peter Møller and his father Peter Mærsk Møller.
Maersk's business activities include port operation, supply chain management, war ...
, which acquired 50% of the shares and supported Sallings project financially.
As of 2006, the chain consists of 76 stores located all over
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
.
A typical store
Inside a typical føtex, there is a food section, a
deli and a non-food section. The food section is like a full-service supermarket, with a
bakery
A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...
and a
butcher
A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...
. Many stores offer both
self-checkout
Self-checkouts (SCOs), also known as assisted checkouts (ACOs) or self-service checkouts, are machines that allow customers to complete their own transaction with a retailer without using a staffed checkout. When using SCOs, customers scan item ...
and staffed checkout.
The non-food section includes electronics, cosmetics and clothing among other general things.
Føtex also launched an
e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
area with the ability to print
digital photo
Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronics, electronic photodetectors interfaced to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce images focused by a lens (optics), lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. ...
s. The online store also includes
music download
A music download is the digital transfer of music via the Internet into a device capable of decoding and playing it, such as a personal computer, portable media player, MP3 player or smartphone. This term encompasses both legal downloads ...
s.
føtex food
The føtex food concept was introduced in 2010, also in the original store in Guldsmedgade in Aarhus at the store's 50-year anniversary. The føtex food concept phased out the non-food departments and concentrated focus on food items instead.
See also
*
Bilka
Bilka is a Danish chain of hypermarkets. The first store opened in 1970 in Tilst, a suburb of Aarhus. The chain was founded by Herman Salling and is now a part of Salling Group.
Name
The name ''Bilka'' is derived from the German ''Billiges K ...
*
Netto
*
Tøj & Sko
Tøj & Sko was a Danish clothing and footwear store. The shop was a discount clothing store and operated 37 stores across Denmark. It was foundered in 1981, and was part of Bilka A/S, which in turn was owned by Dansk Supermarked A/S. In 2012, ...
*
A-Z
*
A.P. Møller-Mærsk
*
Dansk Supermarked A/S
References
External links
fotex.dk - føtex websitedsg.dk - Dansk Supermarked Gruppen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fotex
Retail companies established in 1960
Supermarkets of Denmark
Companies based in Aarhus
Dansk Supermarked
Salling Group