Holland & Barrett has opened its first stores in Greece, kicking off the first stage of its delayed expansion into the region.
The new stores in Kifissia, Glyfada and The Mall, Athens are the first of 120 planned across Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, under a partnership with local retail company The Fourlis Group, which was announced in January 2022.
At the time, H&B said the first store was set to open by the end of 2022, with local websites launching simultaneously. H&B’s online presence in the country would now go live in March, it said.
“We’re excited to be making wellness a way of life for even more people by bringing Holland & Barrett to new customers in Greece,” said international development director Nick Parker.
Britain’s ambassador to Greece, Matthew Lodge, attended the opening of the Kifissia store on 15 January, as part of an official launch ceremony alongside H&B chief commercial officer Alex Dower, and Vasilios Fourlis, chairman of The Fourlis Group.
Fourlis, which was founded by four brothers, is one of the region’s largest retail and consumer groups. It operates Ikea and Intersport stores in Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus, as well as Intersport stores in Turkey and Romania.
It means Holland & Barrett products are now available in over 1,000 stores in 19 countries. It also has a significant international web presence, including on China’s Tmall platform.
The company was acquired by the Russian founded investment group LetterOne in 2017.
It saw UK sales fall 1.8% to £528.6m in the year to September 2021, largely as a result of the impact of Covid-19 on high street footfall, causing it to close 24 stores, as indicated in its latest results. International sales remained flat at £726.7m, down from £727.4m.
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