Limited in Sri Lanka acquired a license to operate Spar brand in Sri Lanka as Spar Lanka. This is a joint venture of Ceylon Biscuits Limited and SPAR Group Ltd, South Africa. They opened the first store in Thalawathugoda, Colombo. The plan is to open 50 outlets in the country by 2023. In 2020, there were more than 13,500 SPAR stores in 48 countries. In 2022, Israeli supermarket chain Shufersal announced plans to open SPAR stores to Israel; with 10 stores to be opened in the first three years of operation. Shop types In most, but not all countries, SPAR operates shops of different types and sub-brands: SPAR Express, SPAR Neighbourhood, EuroSPAR and InterSPAR. EuroSPAR/SuperSPAR The EuroSPAR name is used in Europe and SuperSPAR in South Africa. These are mid-sized supermarkets. They are designed to fit in a niche between convenience shops and traditional supermarkets. InterSPAR These are hypermarkets and compete directly against major international chains such as Real, Carrefour, and Tesco. KwikSPAR KwikSPAR (only found in South Africa) are a smaller quick stop shop for convenience. They are larger than the conventional SPAR Express but smaller than the normal SPAR. These stores tend to have extended trading hours, some even being 24-hour convenience stores. SPAR Express This is the smallest type of shop. They are designed for small sites and filling station forecourts, airports and train stations. SPAR Drive-Thru There was a drive-through SPAR on the Cliftonville Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This has now been converted to a Centra shop, and retained the drive-through for a while afterwards, but now no longer has one. SPAR Gourmet The Austrian Spar Group has around 50 supermarkets branded SPAR Gourmet, mainly in and around Vienna. They are smaller supermarkets that specialize in foods, with a reduced range of other household goods. They originate from the acquisition of retail units from the Julius Meinl coffee and tea chain in 2000. International statistics (2021) 48 countries 255 distribution centres 13,623 stores €41.2 billion total sales 410,000 SPAR colleagues 7.5 million m2 retail sales area 14.5 million customers per day See also List of convenience stores Notes References External links SPAR International - Annual Report 2019 Companies based in Amsterdam Convenience stores Defunct retail companies of Romania Dutch brands Multinational companies headquartered in the Netherlands Purchasing consortia Retail companies established in 1932 Supermarkets of Albania Supermarkets of Austria Supermarkets of Croatia Supermarkets of Hungary