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Hema (store)
Encyclopedia
Maxeda
Maxeda is a Dutch retail group that operates in Europe, the Middle East and Dutch dependencies in North America. It is the result of the merger of Koninklijke Bijenkorf Beheer and Vendex. The firm is mostly known for their successful department stores...
company until June 2007, when it was bought by Lion Capital LLP
Lion Capital LLP
Lion Capital LLP is a British private equity firm, primarily focusing on leveraged buyout investments in Europe. The firm specializes on investments in the consumer sector...
. The chain is characterized by relative low pricing of generic housewares, which are mostly made by and for the chain itself, often combined with original design.
The first HEMA opened in Amsterdam on 4 November 1926, set up by the Jewish owners of the luxury department store De Bijenkorf
De Bijenkorf
De Bijenkorf is a chain of upscale department stores in the Netherlands with its flagship store on Dam Square, Amsterdam. It was founded by Simon Philip Goudsmit in 1870 as a small store along the Nieuwendijk, one of Amsterdam's oldest streets, it offers many prestigious brands in clothing,...
. Originally, as a price-point retailer at prime locations in town centers, goods were sold using standard prices (hence its name), with everything having a Standard price of 10, 25 or 50 cents, and later also 75 and 100 cents. The relative economic boom in the Netherlands in the period 1900-1930 benefited HEMA.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, this model could not be sustained and the standard pricing system was abandoned. But a period of rapid expansion followed: now almost every town of any importance in the Netherlands has a HEMA. Locations carry a wide variety of goods, including clothing, food, bicycle equipment, gardening tools, and office supplies. As of 2010, standard pricing was reintroduced.
Products
HEMA prides itself in developing much of its articles itself, including food and books. On its website HEMA says it develops all its articles itself. The website also stresses that the total offer is concentrated on daily necessities.Some well-known HEMA products in the Netherlands are
- rookworstRookworstRookworst is a type of Dutch sausage in which ground meat is mixed with spices and salt and stuffed into a casing . Rookworst is a traditional ingredient in stamppot...
, a warm, smoked sausage, for which the chain is famous; - pigs in a blanketPigs in a blanketPigs in blankets Pigs in blankets Pigs in blankets (also known as worstenbroodjes or saucijzenbroodjes (dutch), kilted sausages (UK), pølse i svøb (danish) refers to different sausage-based foods in the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia,...
(in Dutch: saucijzenbroodje); - tompouce, oblong pastry containing custardCustardCustard is a variety of culinary preparations based on a cooked mixture of milk or cream and egg yolk. Depending on how much egg or thickener is used, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce , to a thick pastry cream used to fill éclairs. The most common custards are used as...
puddingPuddingPudding most often refers to a dessert, but it can also be a savory dish.In the United States, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, though it may also refer to other types such as bread and rice pudding.In the United Kingdom and...
, covered by a pink sweet layer - pies, for which it is the market leader
Formula
HEMA has chosen a no-nonsense formula with strong house-branding. Quality standards are relatively high. HEMA organizes their own yearly design-contests.HEMA was the company to introduce franchising
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
in the Netherlands. How many of its shops are franchised is unknown.
Branches
HEMA branches by country per 2011:
- Netherlands: 445
- Belgium: 62
- Germany: 8
- Luxembourg: 3
- France: 4 (Paris, Créteil, Valenciennes, Lille)
HEMA employed in excess of 10,000 workers at over 500 stores by March 2011.
Controversy
In 2011, the Belgian HEMA store in GenkGenk
Genk is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the city of Genk itself...
first allowed, then barred a muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
girl from working with customers wearing a head scarf. In a press release, the store's management said avoiding political or religious statements and keeping a strictly neutral course would be policy from then on. This was applauded by ultra-right wing politician Filip de Winter, who then called the Belgian public to go and buy warm sausage at the HEMA - but that product is not sold outside the Netherlands.
During WWII, a number of Jewish employees (there were a relatively high number because of the Jewish roots of the company) were murdered by the Nazis, which is remembered yearly by laying a wreath on May 4th, the Dutch Remembrance of the Dead
Remembrance of the Dead
Remembrance of the Dead is held annually on May 4 in the Netherlands. It commemorates all civilians and members of the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who have died in wars or peacekeeping missions since the outbreak of World War II....
, at the head office.