Hema set for Spain, UK debut

Fans of the Dutch store Hema living in Spain and the United Kingdom will be excited to hear that the department store/supermarket is expanding into those countries. The announcement was made by CEO Ronald van Zetten on the t.v. show Nieuwsuur. The store is planning on opening its first locations in each country during the first half of 2014. Specific details were not revealed during the broadcast on NOS. Hema's distribution center in Lage Weide, Utrecht (photo: Japiot/Wikimedia) Van Zetten also said Hema plans to open more storefronts in France. There are already 30 locations in that country. Hema also exists in Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. Ten thousand people work for the company in the Netherlands, where the firm operates 524 stores. Hema's physical expansion in the Netherlands slowed last year, when they opened 35 new stores. Instead, the CEO said, they focused on offering new products and services, like health insurance, marital contracts, wills. Roughly 40,000 people signed up for or switched to Hema health insurance during the last weeks of 2013, he said.