SPAR Cameroon opened a new SPAR Supermarket on 4 January in the coastal town of Kribi, south of the country’s largest city, Douala.

Kribi is a popular tourist destination in Cameroon, drawing in visitors with its inviting beach and many restaurants. The economy is spurred on by the Kribi seaport, the biggest seaport in western Africa.

With a customer base made up primarily of local families, the newly built SPAR store trades in a selling space of 410m². It features a bakery, butchery and Food-to-Go department, as well as a non-food section.

The opening of the SPAR store in Kribi was communicated to the public through an extensive marketing campaign, which included the distribution of flyers all over the city.

SPAR Cameroon has gained expertise through the opening of its first SPAR store in Douala in 2015. Together with the support received from SPAR International in designing and setting up the Kribi store, the learnings from the Douala store were greatly beneficial in the smooth launching of this second SPAR store. SPAR International provided support with designing the store exterior, interior graphics and working together with the local partner to develop the best layout with SPAR Cameroon creating the category and merchandising plan.

The opening of this modern SPAR Supermarket was also welcomed by the local council and government bodies. Having been alerted through the campaign run prior to launch date, there were many customers eagerly waiting outside the store when it opened its doors to the public with the checkout counters working hard to provide the best service to the high number of shoppers. In total, there were 624 transactions on the opening day.

About SPAR Cameroon:

The SPAR Partner in Cameroon is L’Atrium SA, a joint venture between two existing family owned companies (Dee-lite Sarl and Groupe ARNO) that have experience and local expertise in wholesale and retail operations. Since end 2019, one partner has been managing the business.

Africa is a growth market for SPAR and after research into possible partners, SPAR International was pleased to license L’Atrium SA for this market. The first SPAR store in Cameroon opened in 2015 in Douala, the country’s largest city.