Maxima is a retail chain that has been operating in Estonia since 2001. The chain includes 85 stores all over Estonia, of which 60 are Maxima X home stores, 22 Maxima XX supermarkets and 3 Maxima XXX hypermarkets. It also has 12 production units and a logistics centre. Maxima considers it important for offer customers grocery items that are high-quality and of Estonian origin.
In 2015, Maxima became the first retail chain to open an online food and essentials store e-Maxima, which was renamed Barbora in October 2018. We were the first retail chain in Estonia to launch a mobile shopping remote, awarded with the title “Commercial Act 2020”. Today, our Maxima Estonia app is one of the best on the market, using a very fast and accurate scanner, and allowing to register car parking in ten stores.
Maxima values every family in Estonia. We work as a united team so that every family can buy exactly what they need from our stores. We work every day to ensure that what you need is available – always fresh and at a low price. A cheap shopping cart allows you to save and thus have more money and time left to meet other need of your family. In addition to cheap prices, we provide a quick and contactless shopping option – the Maxima app is just what you need if you value your time and safety when shopping. Maxima Estonia is part of the Lithuanian retail group Maxima Grupé uniting more than 1,300 stores in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Bulgaria. The group employs nearly 40,000 people and serves more than 1.3 million customers per day.
Our people are the most important to us, Maxima Estonia. As the only retail company, we offer a free hot lunch to the employees of our stores, production units and the logistics centre. In addition, people coming to work from further afield get free transportation and living in our rental houses.
We have also thought about the children of our employees - we provide a monthly Maximalist scholarship of €40 for children who study well, and a starter kit of school supplies for children entering the 1st grade. For example, Maxima Estonia has paid more than €400,000 in scholarships to the children of its employees in the last 12 years.
Since last year, we have been using the online learning platform Coursy – we are one of the largest companies in Estonia to use it in in-house training. We have automated the calculation of working hours and the creation of rosters.
It is important for Maxima that all people feel good in our organization – that is why we are members of the Estonian Staffing Association, in order to constantly increase the quality of our people management. Maxima is also a member of the Estonian Traders’ Association and a member of the Estonian Employers’ Confederation. Since Maxima has made it its mission to support people who are struggling to make ends meet, we have been cooperating with the Estonian Food Bank for some time.
The charity campaign “Angel Tree” has been taking place in Maxima since 2009. As part of it, store visitors help collect gifts for those who really need them: children from families in need. Angel Trees are placed in Maxima stores all over Estonia in every December. They are decorated with children's names and gift wishes collected together with the child protection workers of the city, district or local municipality.
Since 2018, Maxima has been publishing an activity book for children. Maxima's children's activity book has also been the best-selling children's book in Estonia every year.
A new waste management system has been used in Maxima since September 2022. With the support of the largest local recycling companies, we have changed the handling of secondary packaging in our stores, central warehouse and production units in such a way that it saves natural resources and minimizes their impact on the environment. Since one ton of cardboard (three cardboard balls) saves 17 trees in the forest, if we consider that 21-22 tons of cardboard balls arrive at the waste disposal of Estonian Environmental Services from Maxima 2-3 times a week, then this alone saves 391 trees in a week. In addition to corrugated cardboard and other paper material, secondary packaging, both transparent and coloured film, wooden boxes, other types of wood waste and plastic boxes, which previously all went into one container, are sorted separately in Maxima stores.
While previously Maxima mainly participated in food collection campaigns held a few times a year, offering its customers the opportunity to purchase food for those in need and donate it to the Food Bank, we have been cooperating with the Food Bank on a daily basis since November 2021. During the year of 2022, more than 500 tons (half a million kilograms) of food reached those who need it from Maxima Estonia's stores and logistics centre. Based on the given quantities, Maxima Estonia was the second largest cooperation partner for the Food Bank last year.
Kristina Mustonen started working at Maxima in 2007 as an assistant. During her career, she has worked in several positions within the institution, becoming the head of the purchasing department in 2015. At the beginning of 2023, Kristina Mustonen took over the position of CEO at Maxima Estonia.
