Portrait of Fritz Starke in front of his REWE supermarket. Half of the background is highlighted with a red bar.

Careers

14 August 2025

Dream job: Independent Retailer

Fritz Starke's path to independence

Reading time: 3 min.

In the midst of life, close to people: In our film series, we present impressive REWE Group retailers – strong personalities who have led their stores to success with their individual signature and a common sales concept.

Their stories are as diverse as they are – and yet they are united by a common foundation of values that is deeply rooted in the cooperative tradition of REWE Group. Today in portrait: young entrepreneur Fritz Starke.

2023 built, 1,500 m² sales area, certified green building – Fritz Starke is proud of his REWE store in Ottendorf-Okrilla. The ambitious man from Dresden was already his own boss at the age of 23. Together with partners, he managed several nahkauf stores and opened REWE’s first shopping box in Saxony – his “Fritz’ nahkauf Box”. He rightly received the “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” award from the trade magazine Lebensmittel Zeitung direkt in 2023. Fritz Starke discovered his sales skills in his youth in his parents’ butcher’s shop. His dream came true when he opened his first REWE store.

Video

01:26

Portrait of Fritz Starke. Around the picture is a red frame with the words

A portrait of Fritz Starke

REWE retailer Fritz Starke on his path to self-employment.

He is grateful for the diverse support provided by REWE headquarters in areas such as human resources, construction and sales departments. This interaction between retailers and specialist departments, as well as the cooperation between retailers, is what makes the cooperative and its members strong. The basis for this is a strong sense of community that is deeply rooted in REWE Group’s DNA and offers its retailers support and security.

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