Anyone looking to go shopping in Vienna can hardly avoid Mariahilfer Straße. At 1.8 kilometers long, it is the largest shopping street in our city and invites you to window-shop. Just last year, Søstrene Grene, a new Danish chain, opened on Mariahilfer Straße; now the next franchise from the Scandinavian kingdom is following suit. Since mid-March, you can shop here at Normal to pick up your drugstore items.
Danish concept in Austria
DM is the drugstore chain with the highest sales in Austria, followed by Bipa and Müller in second and third place. Now the Danish retailer wants to shake up the market with a new concept. The focus is on low fixed prices and a steadily growing product range. Around 100 new items are expected to be added each week. Currently, the newly opened store’s product range includes around 5,500 items. This covers the entire spectrum from personal care and oral hygiene to household goods and food. Popular brands such as L’Oréal, Maybelline, Nivea, Gillette, Colgate, and Garnier are represented, as are products previously unknown in Austria.
The store is designed according to the labyrinth concept, as seen in other Scandinavian stores like Søstrene Grene, Flying Tiger, or Ikea. The shelves are lower, so you can see over them. At the same time, the aisles are designed to guide you through the store and encourage you to browse. With a total of 370 square meters, you have plenty of space to hunt for bargains.
Normal on an expansion course
The Normal store at Mariahilfer Straße 32 opened its doors on Thursday, March 19. The turnout at the opening was huge: The first ten customers were treated to shopping vouchers worth €30, and the first 1,000 received goodie bags. But this successful start is by no means the end. The second store is set to open soon at the G3 Shopping Center in Gerasdorf, followed by a third location at the Donauzentrum later this spring.
With this, Normal joins Swiss sporting goods manufacturer On among the foreign brands expanding into Austria this year. As of now, the Danish retailer has more than 970 stores in countries across Europe, including France, Finland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Ireland. The company aims to tap into another market with Austria. It remains to be seen whether the chain can hold its own against the established drugstores in the long run.
