Salling Group has set out which supplies it will prioritise in Denmark’s 51 emergency stores, a network intended to keep essential groceries available if a major crisis disrupts normal shopping. In a statement issued on 22 October, the country’s largest grocery group detailed the foods and household products it plans to keep available as the network is prepared for completion during 2027.
The designated locations include 17 Bilka hypermarkets, 32 føtex stores and two Netto supermarkets. According to the company, the distribution is intended to put an emergency store within 50 kilometres of as much as 80% of Denmark’s population, including if many other supermarkets cannot operate.
What the 51 emergency stores will stock
The priority list focuses on long-life food, drinking water and hygiene supplies. It includes canned fish, tomatoes and beans, pasta, rice, oats, crispbread and flour, as well as batteries, nappies, wet wipes and toilet paper. These products are intended to remain available to ordinary customers while additional supplies are maintained for a crisis.
The group says the difficulty is not simply buying extra goods. Supermarkets carry thousands of products with constantly changing stock, so emergency reserves need to be rotated to avoid food passing its expiry date and being wasted.
Backup power and offline payments
Each designated store is being equipped to operate for at least 48 hours without normal electricity or external connections. Backup generators are intended to keep refrigerators, lighting and computer systems running. The company says nearly ten locations have now received new or upgraded emergency power systems.
That is a further step from the three pilot stores announced in June, at føtex in Ribe, Bilka in Vejle and Netto in Rønne on Bornholm. The June announcement also brought the target for completing all 51 stores forward from 2028 to 2027. NordiskPost reported on the original nationwide plan in November 2025.
Under an agreement with payments provider Nets, customers can also pay by physical card or phone when internet connections are down. Salling Group says offline card payments already work across its Danish shops, including those outside the emergency network. It has more than 750 stores in Denmark and intends to keep as many open as possible during disruptions.
Household emergency supplies remain essential
Salling Group chief executive Anders Hagh said that emergency supermarkets are a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, supplies kept at home:
The best preparedness is when Danes follow the authorities’ recommendations and keep a small stock of essential goods at home.
Danish authorities recommend that households should be able to manage independently for three days, including keeping three litres of drinking water per person per day. The company’s emergency-store network is designed to offer another way to access necessities if ordinary infrastructure fails.
