The Marinopoulos family dominated the Greek retail trade and pharmaceutical industry for decades. It began in 1893 with a pharmacy in Solon, while in 1949 FAMAR was founded. In 1962 he opened the first supermarket in Kolonaki. Dimitris Marinopoulos was president of BSE in 1966-1970 and 1974-1978. The family brought to Greece Marks & Spencer (1990), Gap (2008) and Starbucks. In June 2016 the chain went bankrupt with debts of more than 1 billion euros due to overborrowing, incorrect handling and family disputes. The network passed to Slavenis, and recently lost Starbucks.
Analyticalally:
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It has been his synonym for decades lianeborium in Greece, but also at the same time the drug, both as retail and as production. Her name was associated with the arrival in Greece of the most iconic foreign retail chains in various categories. The head of the family in the 60s and 70s served as its president Association of Greek Industrialists, as BSE was then called, with its terms, in fact, being a milestone in the history of the link. The reason, of course, for family Marinopoulos, a business empire that dominated the Greek market, but also in neighbouring Balkan countries, for many decades. Like any empire, so is this, after the collapse that caused the same chain to collapse. supermarket 10 years ago, after the recent loss of the chain Starbucks coffee, is approaching, as everything indicates, at its final end. The reasons for the collapse? Competition from others «players», incorrect handling, excessive «exposures» and default payments to suppliers, domestic disputes, with the economic crisis acting more as an accelerator of developments than as a main cause.
The starting point of the family in the retail trade is 1893, when the Dimitris Marinopoulos It opens at Solon Street pharmacy, probably the first in the capital. In 1905, together with his brother, Panos, he opened a second pharmacy on Philhellene Street, while in 1908 he opened the historic pharmacy at the gymnasiums, at the confluence of University and Patissia streets. After Dimitris died in an accident, Pan He takes over the two pharmacies, establishing a third in Kolonaki, in 1938. Panos Marinopoulos continued to work as a pharmacist until his death, in 1968.
In 1949 the family, which already in the pharmacy was making drugs, as was the case in those years, also enters industrial production, with the twin sons of Panos Marinopoulos, Dimitris and John, establish the FAMAR pharmaceutical industry.
In 1962 the Marinopoulos family enters the retail food industry by opening on Kanari street 9 in Kolonaki the first supermarket with name Self Service Marinopoulos and slogan «You pick and buy». There, on Kanari Street, it was attempted in spring 2016 to become the starting point for a new beginning in the context of its overall reorganisation «Marinopoulos», when an old store in the chain was turned into deli and appeared with a new logo, but an effort which did not continue, as bankruptcy in June of the same year could not be avoided.
Marinopoulos pharmacy at the Patisian and University confluence in the 1930s (photo from the book entitled «Pharmacy of Greece ...from yesterday to today»).
In 1965 cooperation with the French Le Printemps, which had the mark Prisonic, and supermarkets are renamed to Prisonic Marinopoulos. A year later Dimitris Marinopoulos is elected president of BSE. The Association, under its presidency, launched in June 1966 the programme of summer student employment in industry, while D. Marinopoulos announced that he was preparing the organisation of a nationwide industrial conference with the participation of the presidents of industrial associations of the six Member States of the EEC. In 1970 D. Marinopoulos delivers the baton of the BSE leadership citing a workload, but with the real reason his disagreements with dictators. In 1974, after all, a few months before the collapse of the regime, Dimitris Marinopoulos returned to the presidency of BSE, in which he remained until 1978. In 1975 he organized the industrial conference he had announced in 1966, while leading the founding of Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE). Two years ago, in 1973, the family had launched one of the most recognizable commercial mascots for about two and a half decades, Pi-Mi, the legendary yellow man who was on supermarket signs, commercials and of course bags.
In the 1990s the «Marinopoulos» buys various Greek supermarket chains such as Tresco, and dominates the industry while starting cooperation with French Continental. The acquisition of Continent by Carrefour marks its cooperation «Marinopoulos» from 1999 until 2012, when the French leave the consortium they had with the Greek company.
In 1966 Dimitris Marinopoulos is elected president of BSE and announces that he is preparing the organization of a nationwide industrial conference. In 1970 D. Marinopoulos delivers the baton of the BSE leadership citing a workload, but with the real reason his disagreements with dictators. In 1974, after all, a few months before the collapse of the regime, Dimitris Marinopoulos returned to the presidency of BSE, in which he remained until 1978.
The activities of the Marinopoulos family continue in other areas than organized retail food. In September 1990 its first store opens in Greece British Marks & Spencer chain through the Marks & Spencer Marinopoulos BV. Her supermarket customers «Marinopoulos» had already been in contact since the late 1970s with British chain clothing which was sold under St Michael signal, a signal which Marks & Spencer stopped using in 2000. From 2008 it gradually began to decrease the proportion of the Marinopoulos family by Marks & Spencer Marinopoulos BV, to leave it permanently in 2025. In 2008, however, the family brings Greece American Gap clothing chain, the only activity in the retail trade that continues to operate through the company «Cactus Consultants S.A.»However, it is in the process of restructuring and restructuring.
Since 1982 the family had created Beauty Shop, which were subsequently renamed to SephoraWhen the «Marinopoulos» created the Sephora Marinopoulos SNE, in which it participated in 50%, with the other 50% holding the multinational giant LVMI, a company from which he also left.
In September 1990 the first store of the British chain Marks & Spencer opens in Greece through Marks & Spencer Marinopoulos BV, to leave it permanently in 2025. In 2008, however, the family brings to Greece the American Gap clothing chain, the only activity in the retail trade that continues to operate through the company «Cactus Consultants S.A.»However, it is in the process of restructuring and restructuring.
Much shorter was her course Fnac στην Ελλάδα, παρά τις θριαμβευτικές ανακοινώσεις με τις οποίες συνοδεύτηκε η άφιξη της γαλλικής αλυσίδας ειδών τεχνολογίας το 2005. Η αλυσίδα, η οποία αναπτύχθηκε στην Ελλάδα από κοινοπρακτικό σχήμα της οικογένειας Μαρινόπουλου με τη γαλλική Fnac, αποχώρησε από την ελληνική αγορά το καλοκαίρι του 2010 και ενώ ήδη η Ελλάδα είχε εισέλθει σε καθεστώς μνημονίου. Ανάλογη πορεία είχε και η δραστηριότητα της οικογένειας στο λιανεμπόριο οπτικών ειδών με την αλυσίδα Grand Optical.
Το Starbucks της Κοραή, το οποίο άνοιξε το 2013.
Η πορεία προς τον επίλογο γράφτηκε τη Μεγάλη Τρίτη, όταν ανακοινώθηκε ότι o όμιλος Alshaya από το Κουβέιτ αναλαμβάνει τα δικαιώματα λειτουργίας και ανάπτυξης των καταστημάτων καφέ Starbucks σε Ελλάδα και Κύπρο, καθώς και τον έλεγχο της επιχείρησης «Μαρινόπουλος Καφέ», κλείνοντας έτσι ένα ακόμη κεφάλαιο 24 ετών στην ιστορία της μεγάλης αυτής επιχειρηματικής οικογένειας.
Η πτώχευση και το ντόμινο επιπτώσεων
Ο πραγματικός επίλογος, και μάλιστα με πάταγο για την επιχειρηματική ιστορία της οικογένειας Μαρινόπουλου, γράφτηκε το καλοκαίρι του 2016, όταν η «Μαρινόπουλος» κατέθεσε αίτηση πτώχευσης υπό το βάρος των υποχρεώσεων προς τους προμηθευτές της, οι οποίες ξεπερνούσαν το 1 δισ. ευρώ. Η πρακτική των πολλών ημερών πίστωσης που η αλυσίδα σούπερ μάρκετ είχε «επιβάλει» στους προμηθευτές, λόγω του τεράστιου δικτύου της, η αγορά τζίρου μέσω μιας αλόγιστης πρακτικής εξαγορών, ακόμη και μετά την είσοδο της Ελλάδας σε καθεστώς μνημονίου και την επακόλουθη κάμψη της ζήτησης, με την επιχείρηση να θυμίζει τις τελευταίες ημέρες της Πομπηίας, η απουσία ελέγχου στο τι συνέβαινε στο εσωτερικό του ομίλου, από την κατώτερη βαθμίδα μέχρι τις υψηλές διοικητικές θέσεις, οδήγησαν στην κατάρρευση του μεγαλύτερου τότε λιανεμπόρου στη χώρα και στη μεταβίβαση του δικτύου στη «Σκλαβενίτης». Στα παραπάνω θα πρέπει να προστεθούν και οι διαφωνίες τότε στο εσωτερικό της οικογένειας, διαφωνίες οι οποίες απείλησαν να τινάξουν στον αέρα τη συμφωνία εξυγίανσης, λίγο πριν αυτή κατατεθεί στο δικαστήριο.
Το ντόμινο επιπτώσεων που θα είχε η μη διάσωσή τους, από την απώλεια των 10.800 θέσεων εργασίας στην αλυσίδα, καθώς και οι συνέπειες από τη μη πληρωμή των προμηθευτών (υπενθυμίζεται ότι με τη συμφωνία εξυγίανσης έγινε οριζόντιο «κούρεμα» των απαιτήσεων κατά 50%), οδήγησαν όλο το σύστημα, συμπεριλαμβανομένης και της κυβέρνησης ΣΥΡΙΖΑ τότε, στο να στηρίξει όπως μπορούσε τη συμφωνία εξυγίανσης.
Ακριβώς λόγω του μεγέθους της, με παραγωγικές μονάδες εντός και εκτός Ελλάδας, διασώθηκε και η ΦΑΜΑΡ. Η βιομηχανία το 2017 πέρασε στον έλεγχο των τραπεζών, οι οποίες το 2018 μεταβιβάζουν τις μετοχές τους στην Pillarstone. Το 2020 η φαρμακοβιομηχανία περνά στον έλεγχο του κυπριακού fund ECM Partners και το 2024 πωλείται στο fund MidEuropa.
