REMA 1000 (

Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...

: Rema tusen) is a multinational no-frills soft-discount grocery chain owned entirely by the

Reitan Group Reitangruppen is a Norwegian conglomerate comprising five business areas: REMA 1000, Reitan Convenience, Reitan Eiendom (Reitan Real Estate), Uno-X Energi (Uno-X Energy), and Reitan Kapital. Reitangruppen’s head office is at Lade Gaard in Tr ...

(Reitangruppen). REMA is a short for ' (Reitan Food), referring to Odd Reitan (founder of the company). ''1000'' refers to offering a selection of only one thousand different products (see the history section). With their headquarters located in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

, REMA 1000 includes businesses in Norway and Denmark. The chain is based on a

franchised Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television ...

discount concept: buying large quantities of a limited range of products and offering these to semi-independent owners under their brand. By the end of 2016, Rema 1000 had a total amount of 868 shops spread across Norway and Denmark. By 2016, the retailer captured 24,2% of the total revenue by all Norwegian grocers, taking the lead over its closest rival Kiwi.

The shops

REMA 1000 shops are known for not spending large sums on

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

. As a matter of fact one of the chain's

slogans A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group. T ...

is ''"The simple is often the best"'' (Norwegian: ''"Det enkle er ofte det beste"'') and this reflects on the layout concept in the shops. Products are often positioned by crate or even by

pallet A pallet (also called a skid) is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a front loader, a jacking device, or an erect crane. A pallet is the structural founda ...

to save the cost of positioning them in a more attractive way, a strategy not unique to REMA. It is still REMA 1000's official policy of not letting cost-saving damage the basic idea of simplicity (in accordance with the slogan). Wide corridors and informative signs are therefore present to simplify the shopping.

History

Odd Reitan, the founder of the company, opened the first REMA shop in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

, Norway, 15 February 1979. Originally some shops were named 'REMA 600', indicating its number of food variety (later to be expanded). The owners had recently visited Germany where they had been impressed by the Albrecht brothers (

Theo Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

and

Karl Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austri ...

) hard-discount chain ALDI's success. They wanted to adapt the ALDI concept to Norwegian conditions. Originally REMA attempted success with a selection of only 500-600 different products, but soon realised that this selection was too narrow. The success of the third REMA shop (opened in

Mo i Rana Mo i Rana () is a city, and the administrative centre of the municipality of Rana, in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the Helgeland region of Nordland, just south of the Arctic Circle. Some of the city's suburbs include Båsmoen and Yt ...

, 8 May 1980) with a selection of 1,000 different products, paved way for the REMA 1000

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

. Since then, REMA 1000 have expanded their selection to more than 2,500 different products, but the name does not reflect this development. In 2004, the chain celebrated its 25-year anniversary. In April 2010, REMA 1000 decided to stop selling eggs from cage hens by the year 2012, to coincide with the scheduled EU-wide prohibition on

battery cages Battery cages are a housing system used for various animal production methods, but primarily for egg-laying hens. The name arises from the arrangement of rows and columns of identical cages connected together, in a unit, as in an artillery batt ...

.''Fjørfe'' nr. 3, 2010.

Countries with REMA 1000 shops

References

External links

Rema 1000 NorwayRema 1000 DenmarkThe official Reitan Group (Reitangruppen) website (the owner of REMA 1000)
{{Authority control Norwegian brands Supermarkets of Norway Retail companies established in 1979 No frills