Pedio
 | |
| Cooperative Society | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | See locations |
Key people | Filippos Metrotis (President of Council) |
| Products | Clothing Sports equipment |
Number of employees | 42,500 (2019) |
| Website | pedio |
Pedio (Piraean: Πεδίο), traded as Pedio A.E. (Piraean: Πεδίο Α.Ε.) is a Piraean retailer focused in sports good. It is a worker cooperative with strong presence in Piraea, a considerable portion of Euclea and Tsabara. It has approximately 200 stores spread in the two continents and employs 42,500 persons.
The company was one of the first Piraean ones to expand its operations overseas, having achieved a considerable success. Pedio stores are often big-box stores in the outskirts of cities, inside malls or partnered with local franchises of hypermarkets. Its cooperative structure is rooted in different councils which aim to provide participation in all sectors of the company; the President of the General Council is Filippos Metrotis since 2019.
History
Pedio was funded in 1969 by several family-owned retail shops with the intention of lowering costs and simplifying distribution. Five years later, the company would open its first franchised store outside Alikianos and a decade later, Pedio would embrace big-box stores across Piraea. In 1988, the first international store opened in Arciluco, Amathia, and two years later, Pedio opened stores in Etruria and Paretia. During the 1990s, Pedio introduced a wider range of private labels, aimed to increase designs and specialise its offer in clothing and sports wear.
Between 2007 and 2009, the company opened its first branches in Emessa and Tsabara, and expanded its network in different Euclean countries. However, the General Council also decided to diminish its stores in Etruria, forcing the closure of 15 stores, although return to at least 4 in the coming years. During 2020, it took the decision to close four of its six stores in Tsabara due to the ongoing crisis; as of 2021, only one store remains open in Adunis.
Company structure
Locations
Criticism
Outsourced labour
Pedio has been criticised by the cooperative movement of Piraea due to its classification as a cooperative. For the members of the movement, the company continuously outsources factories in Satrian nations to fabricate goods, this has been seen as a lack of cooperative values from Pedio and forced the company to release a communique in 2016 explaining the situation of its factories in Coius. Since then, Pedio is committed to outsource quality labour in ethic manners.