This article is about the company. For the Indian movies see Billa (1980) starring Rajinikanth or Billa (2007) starring Ajith Kumar or Billa (2009) starring Prabhas.
| Type | Subsidiary of REWE-Zentral |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1953 |
| Headquarters | Wiener Neudorf, Austria |
| Key people | Wolfgang Wimmer, CEO Stefan Gesselbauer, CFO |
| Products | Supermarkets |
| Employees | 16.320 (2007) |
| Website | www.billa.at |
BILLA is a European supermarket chain originating in Austria, a market where the brand maintains its largest presence as Austria's "Number 1 Supermarket".[1] It is owned by Germany's REWE Group.
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Billa operates stores in these 10 European countries:
| Country | Number of stores | |
| Austria | 1,000+ | |
| Czech Republic | 192 | |
| Slovakia | 89 | |
| Bulgaria | 83 | |
| Italy | 67 | |
| Croatia | 49 | |
| Romania | 41 | |
| Russia | 35 | |
| Poland | 25 - company was took over by E.Leclerc in 2010 | |
| Ukraine | 20 |
The company opened its first supermarket in Bulgaria in 2000 and has since then expanded to cover 35 Bulgarian cities, operating a total of 82 supermarkets. Several others are in construction or in planning. The new Billa supermarkets will be in Veliko Tarnovo, Sandanski, Ruse, Sofia and there will be a second BILLA supermarket in Sliven. The newest addition to the network is a supermarket located in the underpass of metro station "St. Climent Ohridski" in the centre of Sofia. Three new outlets are to be opened until the end of September 2009 bringing the total number of shops to 50.
In June 2006 the roof of one of the stores in Sofia collapsed during a storm. There were no injuries reported. There was an investigation to determine the reason for the poor quality of the construction work and whether the same problems are present at other Billa stores in the country.[2] Starting October 31, 2007, 11 people are going to be tried for the collapsed roof. If convicted, It is expected that they will be fined up to 1,000 leva (approx. US$700) each.
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Billa is owned by Rewe Group, which also operates XXL, Penny Market and Selgros outlets in Romania. The company uses the tagline Billa zilnic - Cel mai bun pentru mine ("Billa daily - The best for me") and opened its first store in Bucharest in 1999. Since then, Billa has turned into one of the most well-represented supermarket chains, with 41 stores in Romania:
Billa's stores are generally referred to as hypermarkets, due to their size and accompanying infrastructure. Billa's newest Bucharest store has an area of 2,000 sq. metres, with a car park for 200 cars, employs 100 people and stocks 7,500 products. Despite the sizable investment, Billa's Romanian operations recorded a profit of 5.99 million new lei (1.6 million euro) in 2001. A 2001 plan called for 50 stores by 2005. While this goal was not achieved, the supermarket is expanding at a very quick rate.