C1000

First C1000 in Dokkum

Supermarket owner Germ Kloosterman from Dokkum experimented with the first C1000 in the year 1977. At the time there were many competitors in Dokkum, which is the reason why Germ Kloosterman wanted to set up a store that could compete with them by offering lower prices. His initial shop belonged to the Centra formula, which belonged to Schuitema, but he was allowed to try a new formula for a period of two years and if the results of his experiment were disappointing, he could return to the old formula.

The initial C1000 store was expanded from 100 square meters to 650 square meters by moving into the adjacent building. The store opened on 1 April 1977. Its name was derived from the term "Calculatie-1000" ("Calculation 1000"), which referred to the promotion of giving a fixed low price for a thousand items in the new store.

Expansion during the 1980s

A second pilot store was opened in Wolvega on 6 November 1980, but it wasn't until 1981 that the C1000-Voordeelmarkt formula was fully developed. Because the formula wasn't fully developed before 1981, this year is officially considered to be the founding year of C1000. Most new C1000-branded supermarkets were franchises.

As of 2012 C1000 had over 2000 different house brand products including both A-brand and B-brand products. C1000 issued magazines named Voordeelstraat and Voordeelplein which displayed the (temporarily) discounted and bargain products it was selling. Furthermore, at the beginning of every year C1000 would announce a hundred products that would cost €1,- for the duration of the year.