  thumb|billa flagship-store in vienna  billa is a european supermarket chain originating in austria, a market where the brand maintains its largest presence with more than 1000 stores.http://www.wirtschaftsblatt.at/archiv/unternehmen/billa-eroeffnet-1000-filiale-54249/index.do , from may 30, 2006 (german) it is owned by germany's rewe group. the supermarkets' name is derived from a contraction of billiger laden, german for 'inexpensive shop' http://www.billa.at/metanavigation/unternehmen/geschichte/dd_bi_subpage.aspx == billa in europe == thumb|billa in europe billa operates stores in these 9 european countries: {| class="wikitable" |- ! country ! no. of stores |- |  austria || align=center| 1,000+ |- |  czech republic || align=center| 205 |- |  slovakia || align=center| 123 |- |  bulgaria || align=center| 84 |- |  romania || align=center| 80 |- |  russia || align=center| 72 |- |  italy || align=center| 67 |- |  croatia || align=center| 49 |- |  ukraine || align=center| 32 |} === billa in bulgaria === the company opened its first supermarket in bulgaria in 2000 and has since then expanded to cover 35 bulgarian cities, operating a total of 88 supermarkets. several others are in construction or in planning. the new billa supermarkets will be in veliko tarnovo, sandanski, ruse, sofia and there will be a second billa supermarket in sliven. the newest addition to the network is a supermarket located in the underpass of metro station "st. climent ohridski" in the centre of sofia. three new outlets are to be opened until the end of september 2009 bringing the total number of shops to 50. in june 2006, the roof of one of the stores in sofia collapsed during a storm. there were no injuries reported. there was an investigation to determine the reason for the poor quality of the construction work and whether the same problems are present at other billa stores in the country.{{cite web|url=http://www.standartnews.com/en/article.php?d=2006-11-27&article=2035|ti
Convenience_stores Retail_companies_established_in_1953 Supermarkets_of_Austria Supermarkets_of_Bulgaria Supermarkets_of_Croatia Supermarkets_of_Romania Supermarkets_of_Ukraine Supermarkets_of_the_Czech_Republic