The Fleggaard Group

The International
Aug 8
4 min read

A major player in Northern Europe’s retail and wholesale market.

Photograph: Fleggaard FB Pg / Unsplash

In 1926, CPeter J. Fleggaard opened a small grocery store in the provincial town, Padborg, near the Danish/German border. Back then, the city was a small market town with a population of only a few thousand inhabitants. The grocery store called “Fleggaards Kolonialhandel” was located opposite the railway building, and made its revenue almost solely based on the travellers commuting to and from Padborg.

Fleggaard's Kolonialhandel did well in the following years, as Peter J. Fleggaard was a true businessman with solid business acumen. In the store business, acumen was enacted not only through good and personalised service based on customer needs, expert knowledge of the products sold in the store, the ability to purchase quality goods at reasonable prices, as well as diligence were just as important factors.

Border region expansion

In the 1960s, Hans Frede Fleggaard took over the thriving grocery store after his father, who died at a young age. He knew how to keep the business up with the times, and development really took off as he expanded the store’s assortment with new product categories such as domestic appliances and kitchens. He also moved the store to Industrivej in Padborg.

This decision was followed by the first expansion of many to come, as Hans Frede had inherited his father's business acumen. With diligence, creativity and great enthusiasm, he continued the expansion in the border region. Business acumen was still the starting point for the company, including the ability to make bulk purchases that enabled the company to sell goods cheaper than its competitors.

However, Hans Frede was not only a good businessman. He also dared to delegate responsibilities to both his children and senior executives. Therefore, when Hans Frede retired from the day-to-day management of the Fleggaard Group in the late 1990s, he transferred a very solid and well-run business to the next generation.

International group

Today, almost 100 years after the founding of Fleggaard Kolonialhandel, the third-generation members of the family are active board members in the Fleggaard Group. The family forms a solid backbone for the Group’s long-term strategy and development, and is active in several of the Group’s boards.

The Group’s scope has steadily grown as the activities have become increasingly internationalised - especially the Group’s wholesale companies, which have interfaces all over the world.

The Fleggaard Group is still a family-owned company with its roots firmly planted on the southern Jutland soil, and the family continuously attaches great importance to business acumen at the centre of decision-making.

Retail sector

Fleggaard Retail is a modern supermarket chain and the largest within the Danish/Scandinavian cross-border trade. It was founded in 1989, and today the chain consists of six border supermarkets, all located with easy access from Denmark. On average, Fleggaard supermarkets are 900 square meters in size, offering a wide assortment from the expected cross-border product range to fresh meat, wine, and a variety of non-food items. The range consists mainly of well-known and often Danish brands.

The Group also owns Calle, which is the largest supermarket chain within the Danish/Scandinavian cross-border trade, in terms of number of stores, with seven stores at the Danish/German border.

Wholesale sector

Dangaard, headquartered in Padborg, is one of the largest wholesalers in Scandinavia. For almost 40 years, Dangaard has provided retailers throughout Europe with a variety of products within domestic appliances, TV/audio, small appliances, smartphones, tablets and living articles manufactured by all the large and well-known brands.

Click Entertainment has no production facilities of its own but only acts as a wholesale link between the manufacturer/other wholesalers, and retailers. Click Entertainment primarily sells branded gaming products, i.e. hardware (game consoles), software (games) and accessories.

The Famobra Group consists of Famobra GmbH, Famobra Pte. and Calgros GmbH. Famobra specialises in global FMCG trading and sells branded products primarily in the food (including beverages and alcoholic drinks) and non-food sectors. The main focus is on European-branded products. Still, Famobra has suppliers in most parts of the world and sources attractive products and brands for distribution to customers worldwide from warehouses in Germany and Singapore.

The ASWO Group, headquartered in Germany, has franchise partners in large parts of Europe. The Fleggaard Group holds the franchise rights for ASWO Nordic, and none of the companies have their own production or stock of the products.

Leasing

Fleggaard Leasing is headquartered in Padborg and is one of the most well-known and reputable leasing companies in Denmark. In 1998, Fleggaard Leasing started leasing cars to Danish companies and is set on a stronger foundation than ever before.

In 2010, Forza Leasing was founded with the aim of being the leading leasing company in Denmark within financial leasing.

Fleggaard Auto is a digital car dealership offering a wide selection of used leasing cars from Fleggaard Leasing. Customers have the option to reserve the car directly on the website and have it delivered to their home address or pick it up from a partner in Vejle.

The Fleggaard Group has 1.600 employees and an annual turnover of approx. EUR 935M.