Flying Tiger Copenhagen

Flying Tiger Copenhagen
Company typePrivately held company
IndustryRetail
Founded1995 (1995) in Copenhagen, Denmark
FoundersLennart Lajboschitz (founder)
Suzanne Lajboschitz (co-founder)
Headquarters
Copenhagen
,
Denmark
Number of locations
950
Area served
Worldwide
Revenue4.274 billion DKK
OwnerZebra A/S
Websiteflyingtiger.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

Flying Tiger Copenhagen (formerly Tiger) is a Danish variety store chain.[2][3] Its first shop opened in Copenhagen in 1995 and the chain now has nearly 1000 shops. Its largest markets are Denmark, the UK, Italy, and Spain. Before June 2016, it operated as Tiger (or Tiger Copenhagen) in most markets, as TGR in Sweden and Norway and as Flying Tiger Copenhagen (or just Flying Tiger) in Ireland, Japan, Belgium, and the Netherlands.[4] The chain sells a variety of items, mostly accessories and toys.[5] According to the company's founder, the company had about 39 million customers in 2014.[6] Tiger takes its name from how the Danish pronunciation of the animal name tiger (IPA: [ˈtsʰiːɐ]) sounds roughly the same as the Danish word tier (IPA: [ˈtsʰiˀɐ]), used to denote a 10 kroner coin; in the first stores in Denmark, all items cost 10 kroner.[7]

History

[edit]
Logo in some countries until June 2016
Tiger shop, Copenhagen city centre
Tiger shop, Putney, London

Lennart Lajboschitz opened the first shop at Islands Brygge in Copenhagen in 1995.[4]

In 2005, the company opened its first shop in the United Kingdom in Basingstoke, later followed by other parts in the United Kingdom, such as Glasgow in Scotland, Cwmbran in Wales and Newry and Belfast in Northern Ireland. They no longer operate in Northern Ireland as of 2021 due to poor sales.[8]

In 2012, EQT Partners acquired a 70% stake in the chain Tiger via its investment in its parent company Zebra A/S.[9]

In January 2015, the company appointed former The Body Shop director Xavier Vidal as its new chief executive officer.[10] The company opened its first store in the United States in New York City in May 2015, [11][12] a 5,000-square-foot/152 mq store in Manhattan's Flatiron District.[13] In 2016, the company officially changed its name worldwide to Flying Tiger Copenhagen; it has previously used other names due to the name "Tiger" not being allowed in all markets.[14]

In November 2018, the company announced the opening of four shops in Massachusetts and planned to open 20 more locations in New England in the next few years. The CEO, Mette Maix said the format of the shop is "like a treasure hunt" by adding at least 300 random, new items each month to the shop selection.[1]

In November 2020, Flying Tiger closed all US Stores, to focus on other markets.[15]

Online shopping

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Flying Tiger opened their global online shop in July 2021,[16] catering to most of Europe. The online store ships to Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Italy. Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the UK.

New products are added to the store each week.[17] Many products are limited edition and only for sale for a limited time.

Number of shops per country

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Tiger shop at Amerikamura in Chūō-ku, Osaka.

Flying Tiger operates almost 1,000 shops worldwide, of which 805 are in Europe.[18]

Country Shops[19]
 Italy 131
 Spain 126
 United Kingdom 80
 Japan 56
 Denmark 51
 Poland 44
 France 42
 Portugal 42
 Sweden 39
 Finland 30
 Germany 27
 Israel 27
 Norway 26
 Ireland 23
 Switzerland 23
 Netherlands 22
 Belgium 21
 South Korea 21
 Hungary 19
 Austria 17
 Czech Republic 17
 Indonesia 16 [20]
 Saudi Arabia 14
 Greece 12
 Slovakia 11
 Estonia 7
 Cyprus 6
 Latvia 6
 Lithuania 6
 Iceland 5
 United Arab Emirates 5
 Kuwait 3
 Bahrain 1
 Malta 1
 Qatar 1
 Malaysia ?[a]
 Oman ?[a]
 Singapore ?[a]
 Thailand ?[a]
 Turkey ?[a]
 Vietnam ?[a]

Awards and recognition

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In 2014, Tiger Stores Ireland won Company of the Year and Best Small Company at the Retail Excellence Ireland awards.[21] In the same year, the company received "Good design" award by Chicago Athenaeum.[22][failed verification]

Notes

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A.a First shop opened 2024, no data in 2023 report.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b DeAngelis, Allison (2018-11-21). "'We don't just want to be normal': Danish retailer Flying Tiger expands in Mass". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  2. ^ Booth, Hannah (19 July 2013). "The Tiger who came to town". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  3. ^ Wood, Zoe (30 March 2014). "Posh pound shop: Tiger sinks its claws into UK high street". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Tiger tjente kvart milliard i 2013" (in Danish). Jyllands-Posten. Archived from the original on 2014-06-04. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  5. ^ Tiger UK. "About us". Archived from the original on 25 January 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  6. ^ Owens, Alan (9 December 2014). "Tiger confirm plans to open Limerick store". The Limerick Reader. Archived from the original on 4 July 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  7. ^ "Tiger-koncept opstod ved et tilfælde". Politiken (in Danish). Retrieved 2018-07-22.
  8. ^ Butler, Sarah (20 May 2016). "Danish retailer Tiger eating up competition on Britain's high streets". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  9. ^ "EQT buys Danish Zebra's Tiger". unquote.com. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  10. ^ Tugby, Luke (19 January 2015). "Value retailer Tiger appoints Xavier Vidal as new chief executive". Retail Week. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  11. ^ "Flying Tiger open in New York". Refinery 29. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  12. ^ Hourihane, Ann Marie (9 December 2014). "'We hate indifference': the rise of Tiger Stores". Irish Times. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  13. ^ Xie, Jenny (17 April 2015). "6 Fast Facts About Tiger, the Company Bringing Super Affordable Danish Home Decor to America". Curbed. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  14. ^ Van Looveren, Yoni (2016-04-18). "Flying Tiger chooses a new international name". RetailDetail EU. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  15. ^ "Flying Tiger Copenhagen Closing All Stores". 16 October 2020.
  16. ^ "Flying Tiger launches online store". 28 September 2021.
  17. ^ "Flying Tiger Copenhagen FAQ".
  18. ^ "Flying Tiger Copenhagen: latest news, analysis and trading updates". Retail Week. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  19. ^ "Financial Statement for Flying Tiger Copenhagen 2023" (PDF).
  20. ^ https://flyingtiger.id/pages/store-locator
  21. ^ "The Punt: Tiger burning bright with two awards". Irish Independent. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  22. ^ "The Tea Bird - 2014". Chicago Athenaeum. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
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