ITALY’S COOP SUPERMARKETS TO ARRIVE IN NEW YORK AND TOKYO. A SUPER-COLLABORATION WITH EATALY, THE GOURMET WINE & FOOD SUPERMARKET FOUNDED BY OSCAR FARINETTI

The COOP is Italy’s biggest large-scale food distribution center (earning 12 billion euros last year, with 18% of the market) and is now getting ready to enter the U.S. and Japan markets by 2008, in a joint collaboration with Eataly (the gourmet supermarket founded by Oscar Farinetti, also founder of Unieuro). The company’s advisor, Luca Baffigo Filangeri, recently made the announcement in Milan that this new creation will have 40% controlled by COOP Liguria, Piemonte, and Adriatica, and 60% by Farinetti.

“We will open a 1,500 square meter space in Tokyo in September 2008 [WineNews had already anticipated this news a few months ago], and 1,000 square meters in New York by December 2008, with an investment of 10 million euros for each of these enterprises”.
The plan is to re-use the formula that has already been experimented with success in Turin with the “gourmet Italian food market par excellence” that was made possible with the consulting and collaboration of Slow Food.

“We want to explain to our clients” – added Filangeri – “the importance of food and artisan products”, especially in the U.S. where a real Italian food distribution organization is lacking.