Information about the Congress

The 55th SPAR International Congress will be held in Dongguan in China from 23rd to 26th May 2010. The city of Dongguan is in the province of Guangdong on the south-east coast of China. The SPAR partner for this region became a member of SPAR China in November 2006 and has enjoyed excellent growth in his business since joining.

On May 24th, there will be an opportunity to visit a SPAR hypermarket and the SPAR supermarket which in 2009 won the Global Convenience Retail Store of the Year award, against strong international competition. The SPAR partner in the province of Guangdong operates a combination of hypermarkets and supermarkets, which are expanding rapidly.

We will also visit the new Distribution Centre which has been built by SPAR Guangdong with support from SPAR International. The DC will enable them to expand their store numbers and provision of services to independent retailers.

The Conference itself will take place at the Sofitel Dongguan on May 25th and 26th. During the Conference we will hear presentations from SPAR member countries, outlining the strategic issues being addressed within SPAR. We will also hear from motivational guest speakers during these sessions.

All 33 SPAR countries will participate in this Congress and many will have the opportunity to report on the development of SPAR in their country and also exchange ideas with all delegates.

From Dongguan, delegates joining the Post-Congress tour will travel to Shanghai from 27th to 30th May. Participants will have the opportunity to tour Shanghai and visit the Expo 2010. This Expo will have 200 national and international pavilions and over 70 million visitors are expected.