The initiative comes as Italian Research Institute, Istat, reports that less than half of the population reads at least one book or e-book per year. With its instore BookGiving campaign, DESPAR Northeast hopes to reignite the popularity of reading, especially amongst children.
“We are convinced that by supporting schools, we can foster the growth of our local communities,” said Fabio Donà, Marketing Director at Aspiag Service, the SPAR license holder for Northeast Italy.
“Our company has supported local schools for many years in a number of practical ways. For example, over the last 11 years, our Good Habits project as seen more than 50,000 pupils, teachers and parents, being educated on nutrition, the environment and physical exercise.
“The BookGiving initiative, which we tested last year at a small number of stores, is another way for us to contribute to raising the quality of local education.”
All books collected will be donated to local schools during the month of October.
Source: DESPAR Northeast
Read more about SPAR Italy
About DESPAR Italy
SPAR International first granted a licence for the operation of the SPAR Brand to SPAR Italy in 1959. The first store opened in the latter part of 1960 and with it, SPAR became the first partnership of retailers and wholesalers to operate in Italy. SPAR Italy, known locally as DESPAR Italia, licenses regional partners, all of whom work together to grow the brand across the country.
The DESPAR Partners operate stores under three formats: DESPAR Neighbourhood Supermarkets, EUROSPAR Supermarkets and INTERSPAR Hypermarkets. Many of the larger format stores are company-owned, reflecting the scale of investment required. While the majority of the company’s turnover is acquired through these larger format stores, the independently owned neighbourhood supermarkets remain a key part of the business.
