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Søstrene Grene was launched in the Danish city of Aarhus in 1973 by the two Grene sisters. At the beginning, the store was situated at a very inaccessible 1st floor that used to be a confectioner’s shop.
The idea of the low pricing originated from the perception that it would take something extraordinary to make customers climb the steep stairs to the 1st floor.
In this way, Søstrene Grene became the first discount store in Denmark, and from the very first day it was a store that stood out from the others.
At that time, the range of products was (for the most part) typical price-sensitive goods like coffee, schnaps etc.
Later, the level of ambition began to rise, and focus was directed towards the aesthetics of the presentation of the products which today characterizes Søstrene Grene.
This was among other things due to the fact that the sisters began to import goods from all over the world, especially things for the home which naturally required a better presentation.
The idea of the store as a market also arose very early. The inspiration came from markets in the Mediterranean area where tradesmen offered their goods for sale in a charming and hectic mixture of colours, scents and sounds.
To create the same effect, the store was built in such a way that the arrangement of the products was moveable, and the products were mixed in an aesthetic connection rather than by product category as known from other stores. The play between light and shadow was another effect that was brought into play.
The goods were presented in the wooden boxes they arrived in and without any packaging so that customers could touch the products and (not unimportantly) the costs of the packaging were saved.
In 1989, a new era began for the two sisters with the opening of two new stores – this time in Aalborg and Herning. In the meantime, the lots of goods had been replaced by carefully selected products specially purchased all over the world.
The principle was (and still is): purchasing directly with the manufacturer in big numbers in order to get the lowest possible price. Another important criterion is that all products must comply with certain aesthetic and qualitative demands.
Today Søstrene Grene has stores all over Denmark and the first stores outside the country are on their way.
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