Etos

Etos B.V. was founded in 1918 by Philips to create a grocery and drugstore where Philips employees could benefit from lower priced products than the average stores. Etos is an abbreviation for the Dutch words: Eendracht, Toewijding, Overleg and Samenwerking (Unity, Devotion, Consultation and Cooperation).

Etos had a bakery and even fuel pumps, in 1931 the stores went private as Etos.

In 1973 Etos was bought by Ahold which reformed the grocery stores to the Albert Heijn formula. The drug stores went on as Etos.

Etos stores are supposedly composed by four elements Earth (health, from vitamins to medicines), Water (bodycare, from shampoo to toothpaste), Fire (beauty, cosmetics, fragrance, face care) and Air (presents).

Etos has 500 stores in the Netherlands and a dozen stores in Sweden. One half of the Etos stores operate as a franchise.

In 2008 Etos was named best drug store of the Netherlands for the first time (the first 11 years this had been drug store "DA"). In 2009 it managed to keep this title.