Supermarkets in Denmark: chains, differences and what to expect

Which supermarket should you use for what?

Pick by the job, not by the name. The Danish grocery market has three big groups: Salling Group (Netto, føtex, Bilka), Coop (365discount, Brugsen, SuperBrugsen, Kvickly) and Dagrofa (Meny, Spar, Min Købmand, Let-Køb). Then there are two foreign discounters, Lidl and Rema 1000. In practice you choose between four kinds of shop.

Salling Group, Denmark’s largest retailer, calls Netto Denmark’s largest grocery chain. føtex has more than 100 stores with a broad range of food, non-food and clothing, and Bilka runs 18 discount hypermarkets that it says carry the largest range in Denmark. Salling also runs the Salling department stores, which have food halls Salling Group.

Coop is a co-operative owned by its members. Its four chains, SuperBrugsen, Kvickly, 365discount and Brugsen, have more than 900 stores between them Coop. In 2023 Coop announced it would merge Kvickly, SuperBrugsen and Irma into a single chain called Coop Coop. Irma closed as a chain that year, but Kvickly and SuperBrugsen still trade under their own names in October 2026.

Dagrofa describes Meny as the supermarket with one of the broadest ranges in Denmark, from gourmet products to basics. Its other chains are smaller, independently owned local shops: Spar (over 140 stores), Min Købmand (over 160, mostly in small towns) and Let-Køb Dagrofa. In August 2026 Dagrofa notified the competition authority that it plans to take over ABC Lavpris, a 16-store discount chain in Jutland and Funen KFST.

Names you may remember but won’t find. Aldi left Denmark in 2023, and Rema 1000 bought 114 of its 188 stores Nordjyske. Coop wound up its Fakta chain in 2022, renamed Dagli’Brugsen to plain Brugsen, and kept Irma only as a product brand sold in its other shops Coop.

Which chains are actually cheap?

The discounters (Netto, Lidl, Rema 1000, 365discount) and Bilka are where prices are lowest. Danish media and comparison sites publish basket price checks regularly, and the winner changes between them, so don’t build your life around one chain. Three things move your bill more than the chain does:

• The shop format. A litre of milk in a Brugsen or Spar in town costs more than in Netto 300 metres away. Use local shops for top-ups only.
• Own brands. Every group has a cheap tier and a premium tier. At Coop, Xtra is the budget line, Coop is the standard line, and Änglamark is organic and eco-labelled Coop. At føtex and Bilka, look for Salling (standard), Salling ØKO (organic) and Salling Princip (premium). Netto has its own brands, including the organic line ØGO Salling Group.
• Tilbud (offers). See below.

Is føtex expensive? It is a mid-market supermarket, not a premium one. Meny and the department-store food halls are where prices really climb. For what a typical food budget looks like, see cost of living in Copenhagen.

When are supermarkets open?

Most supermarkets in cities open seven days a week, Sundays included: Sunday trading is not restricted. Each shop sets its own hours, so check the store finder on the chain’s site, for example Rema 1000.

The rule to plan around is lukkeloven (the shop closing act). Shops must close on public holidays: New Year’s Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Monday, Ascension Day, Whit Sunday and Monday, Constitution Day (5 June), Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and after 15:00 on New Year’s Eve Erhvervsstyrelsen. Small grocery shops below a turnover limit may open anyway, so on a holiday you will usually find a small local shop or a kiosk open, not a føtex. Shop the day before Easter and Christmas; the queues show that everyone else knows this too.

What is pant, and how do you get it back?

Pant is the deposit on drink bottles and cans. You pay it at the till and get it back when you return the empty container. Containers with the pant mark (two arrows in a circle with a row of dots under it) are marked A, B or C Dansk Retursystem:

• A: DKK 1 (glass bottles and cans under 1 litre)
• B: DKK 1.50 (plastic bottles under 1 litre)
• C: DKK 3 (bottles and cans of 1 to 20 litres)

To return them, feed the containers into the flaskeautomat (reverse vending machine) in a supermarket; there are about 3,000 of them. The machine prints a receipt that you cash in at the till or put towards your shopping. A crushed can whose label can no longer be read earns nothing, so don’t squash them. Shops without a machine must take back the same materials they sell, over the counter. For large amounts there are pantstationer (deposit stations) that pay into your bank account through the Pant app within one banking day Dansk Retursystem.

How do tilbud and member apps work?

Tilbud are the weekly offers, published in each chain’s tilbudsavis (offers leaflet). The leaflets are online on each chain’s website and in its app, for example Rema 1000’s leaflet, and the eTilbudsavis app collects leaflets from many chains in one place eTilbudsavis. Some offers are limited to a number of items per customer, so read the small print.

Many offers now apply only in the app or with a member card. The main programmes, as of October 2026:

• Coop membership costs a one-off DKK 200. Members get 5% back as bonus on fresh fruit and vegetables in all four Coop chains, from the first krone, when they scan the card or the Coop app. You spend the bonus at the till Coop. The optional FordelsKonto (a prepaid food account in the app) gives 5-15% bonus on brands you choose, but requires a fixed monthly transfer and an e-money account with Coop Bank Coop.
• Lidl Plus is free, for over-18s, and gives weekly app coupons that are applied when you scan the Lidl Plus card at the till. Sign-up needs a phone number verified by SMS Lidl.
• Netto+ (Netto’s app) shows the reduced-date products in your local Netto Netto.

Online grocery prices, offers and delivery fees don’t always match the shop shelf, so compare the whole basket. Delivery options are in our guide to online shopping in Denmark.

What surprises newcomers at the till?

• Bags are never free. Since 1 January 2021 shops must charge for carrier bags, and thin plastic carrier bags are banned Miljøstyrelsen. The thin bags in the fruit and vegetable section are the exception. Keep a tote bag in your backpack.
• You pack your own shopping. Nobody bags for you, and the next customer’s goods arrive on the belt while you are still packing. Use the divider bar (varedeler) to separate your shopping from the next person’s.
• Self-checkout is everywhere, and many chains let you scan as you go with their app (Coop calls it Scan & Betal). Payment is by card or phone; foreign Visa and Mastercard cards work fine.
• Weighing loose fruit is usually done at the till or self-checkout, not on scales in the aisle.
• ID for alcohol. Staff ask young-looking customers for ID before selling alcohol.

Can you buy cheap food that would otherwise be thrown away?

Yes, and it’s one of the best ways to save money. Look for the reduced-price stickers on short-dated food near the dairy and meat counters, typically late in the day. Netto shows its reduced-date items for each store in the Netto+ app Netto.

Too Good To Go sells “surprise bags” of surplus food from supermarkets, bakeries and cafés at a reduced price, which you reserve in the app and collect at a set time. Netto said in 2023 that it sold them in nearly all its Danish stores Salling Group, and you’ll find many bakeries and other shops in the app too. Bag contents and prices vary by shop.

Where do you find food from home?

The big chains carry basic Asian, Mexican and Middle Eastern ingredients, but not much beyond that. For the rest, Danes and newcomers alike use the independent grocers. In Copenhagen, the densest clusters of Turkish, Middle Eastern, South Asian and East Asian grocers are on and around Nørrebrogade in Nørrebro and Istedgade in Vesterbro, and in central Aarhus and Odense there are similar streets. These shops are often cheaper than supermarkets for fruit, vegetables, spices, rice, pulses and halal meat, and they tend to stay open longer.

For speciality and fresh produce at the other end of the price scale, TorvehallerneKBH at Nørreport is Copenhagen’s covered food market TorvehallerneKBH. Many towns have a weekly torvedag (market day) on the main square, and the kommune’s website lists when.

Common mistakes

• Doing the whole weekly shop at the corner Brugsen or Spar because it’s closest.
• Throwing bottles and cans in the bin: that’s DKK 1-3 each.
• Squashing cans before returning them.
• Forgetting that big supermarkets close at Easter, Christmas and on Constitution Day.
• Paying the shelf price when the same item is cheaper in the app.