Since 1863, Spencer’s has been a part of the Indian retail landscape. At one time, the Spencer’s Empire stretched from Peshawar to Cochin, from Karachi to Chittagong, spanning the length and width of undivided India. Originally owned by a British gentleman – yes, there was a Mr. Spencer (John William Spencer, to be precise) – it acquired Indian ownership in the 1960s, and became part of the RPG Group in 1989.
In 1995, RPG Enterprise, the flagship company of the RPG Group, launched Foodworld as a joint venture with Hong-Kong based Dairy Farm International. The joint venture, which operated supermarkets under thename “Foodworld” and hypermarkets under the name “Giant”, was terminated in 2006. RPG retained 48 of the 93 stores it owned. These were re-furbished and their launch under the brand name, Spencer’s, kicked off a new phase in both the history of the Spencer’s brand, and the retailin India.
Part of the Rs. 9,000 crore RP-SG Group, we run about 200 stores (including about 30 large format stores) across 45 cities in India, employing more than 7,000 people. As one of the earliest entrants in the retail space in India, we have been instrumental in introducing Indian consumers to the concept of organized retailing, becoming the country’s first grocery chain back in 1920, and offering the joys of hypermarket shopping in 2001.
As the pioneer in organized food retailing in India, the modern-day Spencer’s started operations back in the early 90s, in South India. We run more than 200 stores across 35 cities in India.
Currently, we offer customers two retail store formats:
Convenience stores, called Spencer’s
Hypermarkets, called Spencer’s hyper