(The online newspaper) Normal manager Thomas Harsvik himself helped open the store on Karl Johans gate in Oslo last week.
– It was incredibly fun. It is Europe’s largest Normal store. On the first floor, we have a whopping 600 square metres, says Harsvik.
Normal currently has 542 stores in Europe, and is present in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, the Netherlands, France and Norway.
In Nordmøre, there are Normal stores in Kristiansund and Sunndal.
Completely new concept
The largest store is thus located on Karl Johan. But it will actually be expanded.
– We also have the second floor, which is the same size. There we will open a completely new and exciting Normal concept. This has not existed anywhere before, so it will be exciting, says Harsvik.
– What kind of concept is this?
– It will be a kind of experience centre, but we don’t want to say too much yet. We are working on developing this now, says the Normal manager.
15 new stores
The new concept is scheduled to open before Christmas.
There are now just over 150 Normal stores in Norway, and the chain is constantly growing. 20 new stores have been opened so far this year. Before the new year, Normal will open 15 more stores.
– We notice from the response from the public that we have managed to create something they would like to have. We also see it when shopping centers do surveys. Then people often answer Normal, says Harsvik.
Good luck with the news
Harsvik also believes that Normal’s focus on news has been successful.
– In the grocery industry, there are traditionally larger news windows in the product range only a couple of times a year. We take in new exciting products every week, says Harsvik.
Normal is big on categories such as shampoo, soap, cosmetics but also has a wide range of other groceries such as spices, ketchup and sauces, detergents, biscuits, snacks, chocolate, coffee and tea.
– I would say that around 80 per cent of our selection is what you can associate with groceries. But we will also be a hybrid of the range found at pharmacies, perfumeries and chains such as Nille and Europris, says Harsvik.
Challenging Kiwi and Rema 1000
In Norway, the traditional grocery stores are controlled by three large groups:
Coop with Extra, Prix, Mega and Obs Reitan with Rema 1000 Norgesgruppen with chains such as Kiwi, Meny, Joker and Spar.
There has been a lot of focus on competition in the grocery market and many believe it is too bad as the situation is today.
Communications director at Norgesgruppen, Stein Rømmerud, believes that Normal’s strong growth shows that the competition in grocery is greater than many people think.
– Normal’s rapid growth shows that it is certainly possible to take up the fight with the traditional grocery players in Norway if you think differently, says Rømmerud to Nettavisen.
The grocery market is changing
– The industry has changed, and more and more grocery sales are moving into new channels, he says.
He believes that you can no longer only look at the market shares between the traditional grocery players when you want to understand what is happening in the industry.
– This is called industry drift, and that is why we have launched the two new chains Dollarstore and Gigaboks, says Stein Rømmerud.
2023-07-18 18:18:17
#chain #stores #Nordmøre #Udforder #Kiwi #Rema
