From Holland to the high street: SPAR celebrates 70 years as Britain’s community shop of choice

Research reveals how deeply local shops are woven into community life, as SPAR celebrates seven decades on the UK high street

It all started as a small Dutch idea in 1956 and now seventy years on, SPAR is one of the most familiar names in British communities.

As SPAR marks this major milestone, it celebrates being more than a shop: for many communities, it has become part of the local fabric.

According to a study by the Association of Convenience Stores, nearly a third (32%) of customers today say they know the people running their local shop “very well or quite well,” and more than three-quarters of convenience stores (78%) are actively involved in their community, from charity collections to sponsoring local sports teams.

For many shoppers, the local shop has also become a service hub in its own right, used for everything from Post Office errands to withdrawing cash, functioning as an “informal community centre” as much as a place to shop.

That local, trusted feeling has been 70 years in the making. Here’s how it started and seven things you never knew about SPAR along the way:

1. SPAR is actually Dutch. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932 by entrepreneur Adriaan van Well, who wanted independent shopkeepers to compete with the big chains by joining forces
2. The name is a Dutch acronym. SPAR began life as “DESPAR,” from the slogan “Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig”, which means “All Benefit from Joint Cooperation Regularly”
3. The logo is a tree because “De spar” is Dutch for spruce tree,  the inspiration behind SPAR’s green branding
4. SPAR crossed the Channel in 1956, arriving on British high streets for the very first time, not as one flagship store, but as a simultaneous rollout by five independent wholesale companies
5. One of those founding wholesalers is still trading today. Preston-based James Hall & Co. was part of the original 1956 licence group and remains the only one of the five still operating as a SPAR UK wholesaler
6. A design legend created its famous logo. SPAR’s green-and-white 1968 logo was created by Raymond Loewy, the same designer behind the Shell and Lucky Strike branding
7. SPAR shoppers have raised over £5 million for the end-of-life charity through the brand’s partnership with Marie Curie, running since 2017

Nobody understands SPAR’s history and its community role better than the shopkeepers who’ve spent their working lives behind the till.

Independent retailer David Gregson recently celebrated 50 years of ownership of the family’s High Street store in Kirkby Stephen. The Gregson family acquired the SPAR in 1976, and to mark five decades of serving the Kirkby Stephen community, David sold selected product lines at 1970s prices. These included a four-pack of SPAR toilet rolls at 72p, cans of SPAR coke and lemonade at 13p, Easy Non-bio washing powder at 71p, custard creams at 16p, a 1kg bag of flour for 39p, and Dolly Mix and Smash at 23p each.

David said: “My family has always had shops. I think we have always enjoyed helping people out and accommodating their needs. My dad had a view that ‘if we haven’t got it, we’ll get it.'”

Ian Taylor at SPAR UK said: “Seventy years ago, SPAR arrived in the UK as a simple idea that independent shopkeepers could achieve more by working together. Shopping has changed a lot since then, but that idea hasn’t changed at all. It’s why our stores remain such a trusted part of communities across the UK today.”