A free case from BANKRUPT. Five minutes, three lessons.
En gratis case fra BANKRUPT. Fem minutter, tre råd.
The chain Danes loved, and stopped shopping at.
Kæden, danskerne elskede, og holdt op med at handle i.
For 137 years, Danes trusted the girl on the Irma sign. In 2024, the last store closed. A year later, her name was selling more than before. How can a company close while its brand keeps selling?
I 137 år stolede danskerne på pigen på Irma-skiltet. I 2024 lukkede den sidste butik. Året efter solgte hendes navn mere end før. Hvordan kan en virksomhed lukke, mens dens brand bliver ved med at sælge?
Most companies die because nobody wants what they sell. Irma closed while its customers still did.
On 31 January 2023, Coop announced that Irma would close. Its managing director chose his words with care. The decision hurt, he said, because of the strong culture in Irma, the exceptional effort of its staff, and its customers' loyalty and warm feelings for the chain.
Read that again. A strong culture. Excellent people. Loyal customers. Those are not the words you use about a company without strengths. They are the words you use about strengths that never turned into profit.
Irma was never declared bankrupt. Its owner closed it. Then Coop put the Irma products, the blue coffee and the rest, into about 900 of its other stores. In 2025, they were expected to sell for more than half a billion kroner.
The shops died. The name did not.
De fleste virksomheder dør, fordi ingen vil have det, de sælger. Irma lukkede, mens kunderne stadig ville.
Den 31. januar 2023 meddelte Coop, at Irma skulle lukke. Direktøren valgte sine ord med omhu. Beslutningen gjorde ondt, sagde han, på grund af den stærke kultur i Irma, medarbejdernes exceptionelle indsats og kundernes loyalitet og varme følelser for kæden.
Læs det igen. En stærk kultur. Dygtige medarbejdere. Loyale kunder. Det er ikke ord, man bruger om en virksomhed uden styrker. Det er ord, man bruger om styrker, der aldrig blev til overskud.
Irma gik aldrig konkurs. Ejeren lukkede den. Derefter satte Coop Irma-varerne, den blå kaffe og resten, i omkring 900 af sine andre butikker. I 2025 forventedes de at sælge for over en halv milliard kroner.
Butikkerne døde. Navnet gjorde ikke.
Saved once. Closed the second time.
Reddet én gang. Lukket den anden.
- 1886According to Irma's own history, Karen Marie Schepler opens a cellar shop in Ravnsborggade: butter and eggs, milk and cream.
- 1943The stores take the name Irma. The little girl on the sign becomes the chain's face.
- 1953The blue Irma coffee arrives. It becomes one of the best-known products in Danish kitchens.
- 1982FDB, later Coop, buys Irma. It is now one chain among several inside a much larger group.
- 1993Irma is in crisis. FDB plans to turn 30 stores into SuperBrugsen and 23 into Fakta.
- 1999–2012Alfred Josefsen turns losses into profits by making Irma more Irma: quality, service and organic food. In one store, on Torvegade, organic reaches 38% of sales. By 2012: 83 stores and DKK 2.4bn in revenue.
- 2023Organic food is now 11.8% of all Danish grocery sales. On 31 January, Coop cuts its chains from eight to three. Irma will close. About 2,000 people work there.
- 2024The last store, Irma Codanhus in Frederiksberg, closes in the spring.
- 2025Irma products sell in about 900 Coop stores. More than a third of the sales are now in Jutland and on Funen.
- 1886Ifølge Irmas egen historie åbner Karen Marie Schepler en kælderbutik i Ravnsborggade: smør og æg, mælk og fløde.
- 1943Butikkerne får navnet Irma. Den lille pige på skiltet bliver kædens ansigt.
- 1953Den blå Irmakaffe kommer. Den bliver en af de mest kendte varer i danske køkkener.
- 1982FDB, det senere Coop, køber Irma. Nu er Irma én kæde blandt flere i en langt større koncern.
- 1993Irma er i krise. FDB planlægger at lave 30 butikker om til SuperBrugsen og 23 til Fakta.
- 1999–2012Alfred Josefsen vender underskud til overskud ved at gøre Irma mere Irma: kvalitet, service og økologi. I butikken i Torvegade udgør økologi 38 % af salget. I 2012: 83 butikker og 2,4 mia. kr. i omsætning.
- 2023Økologi er nu 11,8 % af alt dansk dagligvaresalg. Den 31. januar skærer Coop sine kæder ned fra otte til tre. Irma skal lukke. Omkring 2.000 mennesker arbejder der.
- 2024Den sidste butik, Irma Codanhus på Frederiksberg, lukker i foråret.
- 2025Irma-varerne sælges i omkring 900 Coop-butikker. Over en tredjedel af salget ligger nu i Jylland og på Fyn.
Three strengths. One letter failed them all.
Tre styrker. Ét bogstav fældede dem alle.
VRINO comes from the strategy professor Jay Barney, who in 1991 asked which resources give a lasting advantage. It asks five questions. Is it Valuable? Rare? Hard to Imitate? Non-substitutable? And is the company Organised to make money from it?
VRINO bygger på strategiforskeren Jay Barney, der i 1991 spurgte, hvilke ressourcer der giver en varig fordel. Modellen stiller fem spørgsmål. Er den værdifuld? Sjælden? Svær at kopiere? Uerstattelig? Og er virksomheden organiseret til at tjene penge på den?
Organic and quality
ParityV ✓ · R ✗ · I ✗ · N ✗ · O –Customers wanted it. By 2023 it was in every supermarket and discount store. A rival could put organic milk on the shelf next week.
You stay in the game. You do not win because of it.
The brand
Unused advantageV ✓ · R ✓ · I ✓ · N ~ · O ✗The girl, the blue coffee, 137 years of trust. You can copy a product range in a year. You cannot buy a hundred years of history.
It passed four tests and failed the last one.
The culture and the people
Unused advantageV ✓ · R ✓ · I ✓ · N ~ · O ✗Coop's own director praised them. Culture is built from thousands of small habits nobody writes down, so it is hard to copy.
Rare and valuable, inside an organisation not built to use it.
Økologi og kvalitet
ParitetV ✓ · S ✗ · K ✗ · U ✗ · O –Kunderne ville have det. I 2023 stod det i alle supermarkeder og discountbutikker. En konkurrent kunne sætte økologisk mælk på hylden i næste uge.
Man er med i spillet. Man vinder ikke på det.
Brandet
Uudnyttet fordelV ✓ · S ✓ · K ✓ · U ~ · O ✗Pigen, den blå kaffe, 137 års tillid. Et sortiment kan kopieres på et år. Hundrede års historie kan ikke købes.
Det bestod fire tests og dumpede den sidste.
Kulturen og medarbejderne
Uudnyttet fordelV ✓ · S ✓ · K ✓ · U ~ · O ✗Coops egen direktør roste dem. Kultur er bygget af tusinder af små vaner, ingen skriver ned, og er derfor svær at kopiere.
Sjælden og værdifuld, i en organisation, der ikke var bygget til at bruge den.
Irma was one of eight chains in a group that was investing heavily in discount. It had 65 stores, mostly around Copenhagen. Coop had tried to sell it, without a deal. When the brand was finally organised differently, across 900 stores, its sales grew.
Irma var én af otte kæder i en koncern, der investerede tungt i discount. Den havde 65 butikker, mest omkring København. Coop havde forsøgt at sælge den, uden held. Da brandet endelig blev organiseret anderledes, i 900 butikker, voksede salget.
The brand was never the problem. The organisation around it was.Max Noble
Brandet var aldrig problemet. Organisationen omkring det var.Max Noble
Three lessons.
Tre råd.
Build on what can't be copied.
Ask which of your strengths will still be yours in ten years. Put the money there, not in the edge rivals are already copying.
Organise around the advantage.
Give a premium brand real freedom, with its own owners and incentives. Or take it to the customers much earlier than 65 stores in the capital.
Renew the rare in time.
Every lead has an expiry date. When rivals catch up, that is the signal to find the next rare thing.
Byg på det, der ikke kan kopieres.
Spørg, hvilke af jeres styrker der stadig er jeres om ti år. Læg pengene dér, ikke i den fordel, konkurrenterne allerede kopierer.
Organisér for fordelen.
Giv et premiumbrand reel frihed, med egne ejere og incitamenter. Eller tag det ud til kunderne langt tidligere end 65 butikker i hovedstaden.
Forny det sjældne i tide.
Hvert forspring har en udløbsdato. Når konkurrenterne indhenter jer, er det signalet til at finde det næste sjældne.
A fair word: hindsight is easy. Running a premium chain through inflation and a discount war is not. The point is not to find someone to blame. It is to see what the tool would have shown while there was still time.
Et fair ord: Bagklogskab er let. At drive en premiumkæde gennem inflation og discountkrig er ikke. Pointen er ikke at finde en skyldig, men at se, hvad værktøjet ville have vist, mens der stadig var tid.
Take it to your team or class.
Tag den med til dit team eller din klasse.
- When did Irma's biggest advantage stop being rare, and who noticed first?
- Where in the story does it become clear that the organisation was not built for the brand?
- Which of your own strengths is valuable, but perhaps no longer rare?
The test question: if a rival got DKK 100 million tomorrow, what could it still not copy from you? And are you organised to make money from it?
- Hvornår holdt Irmas største fordel op med at være sjælden, og hvem opdagede det først?
- Hvor i historien bliver det tydeligt, at organisationen ikke var bygget til brandet?
- Hvilken af jeres egne styrker er værdifuld, men måske ikke længere sjælden?
Testspørgsmålet: Hvis en konkurrent fik 100 mio. kr. i morgen, hvad ville de så stadig ikke kunne kopiere hos jer? Og er I organiseret til at tjene penge på det?
A brand can outlive the company that owns it. It cannot save a company that isn't built to use it.
Et brand kan overleve den virksomhed, der ejer det. Det kan ikke redde en virksomhed, der ikke er bygget til at bruge det.
Every number traceable.
Alle tal kan spores.
- Coop: Irma's history, from chain to premium brand · coop.dk
- Lex – Danmarks Nationalleksikon: Irma A/S · lex.dk
- Lex – Danmarks Nationalleksikon: Alfred Josefsen · lex.dk
- Wikipedia: Irma (supermarket) · FDB purchase 1982, closure plan 1993, Torvegade 38% organic · en.wikipedia.org
- The Copenhagen Post, 31.1.2023: Irma bites the dust in Coop reshuffle · cphpost.dk
- The Local Denmark, 23.8.2023: Coop's DKK 628m loss in 2022; closures delayed · thelocal.dk
- ESM Magazine: the last Irma store, Codanhus, Frederiksberg · esmmagazine.com
- Ritzau / The Copenhagen Post: the Irma brand after the closure (900 stores, DKK 500m+ in 2025) · danishnews.cphpost.dk
- FødevareFOKUS: organic food 11.8% of Danish grocery sales in 2023 · fodevarefokus.dk
- Jay B. Barney (1991): Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage, Journal of Management · doi.org
Irma was closed by its owner, Coop. It was not declared bankrupt. Sources differ on some early details (Lex names Carl Schepler as founder, Coop names Karen Marie Schepler); this case follows Coop's own history. The VRINO assessment and the three lessons are Max Noble's analysis.
Irma blev lukket af sin ejer, Coop. Den blev ikke erklæret konkurs. Kilderne er uenige om nogle tidlige detaljer (Lex nævner Carl Schepler som grundlægger, Coop nævner Karen Marie Schepler); casen følger Coops egen historie. VRINO-vurderingen og de tre råd er Max Nobles analyse.