Jumbo () is a

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 ...

chain in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It is part of the privately owned Van Eerd Group. Van Eerd was originally a grocery wholesale company established in 1921. With 740 stores and a market share of about 22%, Jumbo is the second largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands, behind

Albert Heijn Albert Heijn (), often abbreviated to AH () and informally to Appie (), is the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands with a market share of 37.7% in 2024. It was founded in 1887, and has been part of Ahold Delhaize since 2016. History Th ...

History

On 18 October 1979, Jan and Anita Meurs opened the first Jumbo supermarket in a former church building in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

. It was named after the elephant

Jumbo Jumbo (December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and then tr ...

as an act of one-upping the name of a local rival store called Torro, which belonged to Van Eerd. In 1983, Van Eerd bought the Jumbo store from the Meurs family and subsequently expanded, first in the southern provinces, then nationwide. , 77 establishments have been opened throughout the Netherlands. Together, they have a market share of 3.4% in the Netherlands as of 1 January 2006. The head office and distribution centre are situated in

Veghel Veghel () is a town and a former municipality in Southern Netherlands. On 1 January 2017 Veghel, together with Schijndel and Sint-Oedenrode, merged into a new municipality called Meierijstad. This created the largest municipality of the provi ...

. Jumbo has three regional distribution centres: Beilen, Drachten, and Den Bosch. With the opening of Jumbo in Valthermond,

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...

in October 2005, there is a Jumbo in every province of the Netherlands. Until the acquisition of C1000, relatively few Jumbos were in the

Randstad The Randstad (; "Rim City" or "Edge City") is a roughly crescent- or Circular arc, arc-shaped conurbation in the Netherlands, that includes almost half the country's population. With a central-western location, it connects and comprises the Net ...

. In September 2011, CVC announced that they would sell the C1000 supermarket chain. On 23 November 2011, it was announced that Jumbo would take over all C1000 stores. As a consequence, Jumbo became the second largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands, after Albert Heijn. On 26 January 2016, Jumbo announced that it had acquired V&D's restaurant chain, La Place, out of bankruptcy for an undisclosed amount of money. In March 2023, Jumbo announced Ton van Veen as the new CEO to replace Frits van Eerd. van Eerd stepped down as CEO in October 2022 after being investigated for money laundering.

Sports sponsorship

On 23 October 2014, Jumbo announced it would be a major sponsor of the

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ranking system based upon perfor ...

professional cycling team, Belkin Pro Cycling, which became LottoNL–Jumbo and in 2019, Team Jumbo-Visma. Jumbo has been sponsoring

Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Dutch and Belgian racing driver who competes under the Dutch flag in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Verstappen has won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he w ...

since 2013 when Verstappen was racing in

Formula 3 Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

. In 2017–2019, Jumbo was a major sponsor of

Racing Team Nederland Racing Team Nederland is a former Dutch endurance racing team founded by F1 driver and Le Mans winner Jan Lammers and businessman Frits van Eerd. History Frits van Eerd, was one of the sponsors of Racing for Holland with his company ( ...

that entered the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

in 2018–2019 and 2019–2020. In September 2022, company CEO Fris van Eerd was arrested amid ongoing investigations into money laundering that was carried out through real estate transactions, automotive trade and sponsorship in motocross. Jumbo commissioned an independent investigation into its sponsorship activities and found no criminal offenses or irregularities. Following the controversy, Jumbo announced in January 2023 that it will end most of their motorsport sponsorship but would continue to support

Formula One World Champion A Formula One World Champion is a racing driver or automobile constructor which has been designated such a title by the governing body of Formula One - the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Every Formula One World Champion since th ...

Verstappen. In June 2023, Jumbo announced that they would end the sponsorship deals with Verstappen and Team Jumbo-Visma after the current season. While the sponsorship for Team Jumbo-Visma will end in 2024, the company will be open for an early departure if the team is able to secure a new major sponsor. Jumbo will also no longer sponsor the

Dutch Grand Prix The Dutch Grand Prix () is an annual Formula One World Championship auto racing event, held at Circuit Zandvoort, North Holland, the Netherlands, from 1950 through 1985, and after a 35 year hiatus, from 2021 to 2026. It has been a part of the ...

. The decision to end all sports sponsorship is a part of new CEO Ton van Veen’s strategy for the company.

References

External links

* * {{Supermarkets in the Netherlands Retail companies of the Netherlands Supermarkets of the Netherlands Retail companies established in 1979 Dutch companies established in 1979 Companies based in North Brabant Organisations based in Meierijstad