Migros 175px Migros (pronounced “mee-ĝrōe”) is one of Switzerland's largest companies. The name come from the French "mi" meaning half and "gros" meaning amount. It controls fifteen per cent of the food and non-food market, plus it is the largest supermarket chain in Switzerland. One interesting thing about the company in a business sense is rather then expand internationality into other countries, it grows into various different sectors such as petrol stations and holidays, even adult education. The reason for this, is that it is co-operative organisation rather then a profit-making company. One thing about the company is that it does not sell either alcohol or tobacco. The logo of the company is a large orange M, and it called "the orange giant" by the Swiss. Their loyalty card is called M-cumulus card. History It started when in 1925, Gottlieb Duttweiler did a direct operation of selling large amounts of basic products into demi-grosses. Later to corner the market, a mobile shopping facility went around the villages selling to the general public (Switzerland was a very poor country, and many people still lived in villages), even today Migros still use the mobile supermarkets to go around to people's houses. In later years, shops and supermarkets was established in villages, towns & cities across the country. As far back as 1937, the company started to go into other businesses by starting the holiday company Hotelplan. Companies Migros - supermarkets LeShop.ch - a online supermarket that Migros bought in 2003 Migrol - petrol stations M-electronics - electronic stores OBI - DIY Stores FitnessPark – fitness centres Do it+Garden Migros – DIY & Garden centres Micasa - furniture stores MigrosBank – bank (it is the fifth-largest in Switzerland) Golfpark - public golf-courses Ex Libris – bookshops Migros Klubschole - adult education centres SportXX - sports shops Eurocentres – language schools Frey – chocolate manufactures Migros Magazin – the company's sales magazine Hotelplan - holidays company Globus Group (became part of Migros in 1997) Interino – furniture stores Globus – department stores Globus Herren – menswears stores Office World – office supplies Globi – a cartoon character who is mascot of the Globus Group, often refers as Switzerland's Mickey Mouse. Competitors The main competitors are the coop, Denner Discount, Carrefour & Manor. In the future, when the discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl head for Switzerland, Migros is going to be squeezed as their prices will heavily compete Migros' low prices. External links Migros website, in German, French & Italian FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migros