A quarter of a century ago the success story of the now 70 Alnatura Super Natur Shops started. The first shop of the bio-trader from Hessen opened on 1 October 1987 in Mannheim. At that time that was the first organic supermarket in Germany. A year before this the first organic products under hallmark Alnatura were already on the shelves.
Founder and general director Götz Rehn remembers the rough start well. "Many friends and family members have assisted in the realisation of the first shop. Without their help and effort we would never have succeeded."
Photographs of the first Alnatura-shop
The clients quickly adopted this rather new concept. And within a short time more Alnatura shops opened in Karlsruhe, Kassel and Darmstadt. This was followed by a steady increase in the number of shops. At the moment there are 70 Alnatura shops in 39 towns.
For the new book year the company plans to open 12 new shops. Amongst others in Frankfurt, München and Berlin. Since this summer clients are also welcome in Switzerland. On 30 August last the first Alnatura opened in Zürich. This shop is the result of cooperation with Migros, the biggest Swiss retailer.
'Meaningful actions for man and earth' is still always the company principle. But the outward appearance of the shops has drastically changed over the last 25 years, the starting points, however, have remained the same.
At Alnatura it is important that as many as possible fresh products - vegetables, fruit, bread and cakes - come from the region. This in order to stimulate the local agriculture. Short transport distances help with the protection of the environment and make sure that the products supplied are fresh daily.
Source: Proplanta