Irma was a high-end chain of supermarkets in Copenhagen and other parts of eastern Denmark. Its first store was established in 1886 by Karen Marie Schepler. On 31 January 2023 Irma's owners, Coop Danmark, announced that all Irma supermarkets would be rebranded or closed within the course of the year.[1]
History
Origin and growth (1886–1942)
Karen Marie Schepler's store at Ravnsborggade 13
The Irma chain traces its history back to 1886 when Karen Marie Schepler established a store named Tavnsborggade Mælkeforsyning at Ravnsborggade 13 in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen. Her son Carl Schepler (1870–1942) took it over in 1898. The store started as a retailer of milk and eggs but later expanded into packaged groceries such as tea and sugar. Schepler also opened more stores and changed the name to Carl Scheplers Udsalg. The chain had grown to 110 stores at the time of his death in 1942. [2]
New owners and Børge Olsen (1943–1979)
None of Schepler's heirs wanted to take over the company and it was therefore sold to a consortium of four egg wholesalers. The name of the stores were changed to Irma in 1943 and the Irma girl was adopted as its new logo.
Børge Olsen joined the company as assistant director in 1946 and became managing director in 1951. He converted the chain into a modern supermarket chain, introducing many new initiatives such as self-service and price and date labelling. The first self-service store opened in Nykøbing Falster in 1950. The chain was sold to Privatbanken, Odense Ægforretning, and Gutenberghus. Børge Olsen, who became known as Irma-Olsen, was managing director until 1979.
FDB's crisis years (1980–1993)
FDB (today Coop amba) acquired Irma for DKK 300 million in 1982. FDB unsuccessfully attempted to expand the chain geographically with the opening of three stores in Odense and they closed again in the late 1980s.
The 1980s were crisis years for the Irma chain. Many stores closed and associated activities were sold off. Irma Kantineservice, a food service company with 200 employees, was sold to ISS in 1987, a softdrink factory and Dansk Ægcentral was sold in 1988, the dairy Kongstedlund was sold to MD Foods and Irma's wine bottling plant was sold to Danica in 1990.
Turn-around and new growth (1994-present)
In 1993, FDB announced its intention to close the chain. 30 Irma stores were converted to SuperBrugsen stores, 23 were converted to Fakta stores and the remaining 66 stores were put up for sale. The media attention better economic times boosted the sale and the plans to close the chain were therefore cancelled. Jørgen Pedersen was appointed to CEO in 1994 and was succeeded by Alfred Josefsen in 1999.
Irma's headquarters moved from Rødovre to Coop D's headquarters in Albertslund. Alfred Josefsen was succeeded by Jesper Uggerhøj on 1 October 2012.
Stores
Before 2023, Irma operated stores under two formats: supermarkets and Irma City's convenience stores. It also operated Irma Online internet shopping services. Their flagship store in Axelborg opened on 22 August 2015.[3]
Irma sold a wide range of products under private label. In September 2017, Irma closed a contract with the NetEase-owned e-commerce platform Koala for the sale of selected Irma products on the Chinese market. The products included Irma coffee, chocolate and organic baby clothing.[4]
Irma was known for its wide range of organic products and was the supermarket chain in Denmark where organic products accounted for the largest share of the total sales. At 38%, Irma on Torvegade in Christianshavn was the supermarket where organic products accounted for the largest share of the total sales worldwide.[5]
