One step ahead of the future – G’Roby is 25 years old

Grocery store chain G’Roby celebrates its 25th anniversary. On this occasion our magazine interviewed Sándor Nagy, managing director of G’Roby NETSHOP Kft.

T.M.: – You have been with the company from day one. What were the milestones of the last 25 years?

Sándor Nagy, managing director

– We opened the first G’Roby shop on Margit Boulevard in September 1992. After the death of founder and owner Róbert Gárdonyi I became the longest-serving member of the team. At the beginning G’Roby was a discounter-type store, selling basic food products and household chemicals at low prices. We also marketed imported goods that weren’t available anywhere else. In a few years’ time we already had 5 stores in Budapest.

T.M.: – What is special about G’Roby? What kind of advantages do you offer to customers?

– The service and our product selection differentiate us from competitors. Shoppers know that they can find all of their favourite products in G’Roby shops. At the moment we are selling 10,000-12,000 different products. Shoppers can actually meet shop assistants in our shops, so they can ask questions and get answers – we have brought back the traditional retailer attitude.

T.M.: – G’Roby isn’t only a store chain because you also do home delivery and operate an online shop. Why did you start these services?

– Multinational retail chains entered the Hungarian market in 1998. G’Roby reacted to this by turning our discount supermarkets into classic supermarkets, and by launching our home delivery service, which wasn’t available to consumers back then in the field of groceries. In March 2000 we started our online shop.

T.M.: – How do you celebrate the 25th anniversary?

– This year we complete our store modernisation programme with refurbishing the G’Roby store on Margit Boulevard. Important for us to create a pleasant shopping environment for our customers.

T.M.: – What are your plans for the next 25 years?

– In the next few years we are going to focus on online development. The G’Roby online shop smartphone app and the Smart List app are very popular, but needs are changing daily in this market. We try to figure out what will people want in 2-3-5 years’ time and we will work on giving it to them. (x)