Shopping in France

There are many supermarket chains all over the French regions and departments, remember that France uses the Euro so it may be a good idea to exchange your money before you travel, however, good exchange rates are available in France if you know where to look. Below we have listed some of the major supermarket/hypermarket chains within France.

Supermarkets

• Auchan
• Leclerc
• Hyper U, Super U
• Casino
• Carrefour
• Champion
• Intermarché
• Leader Price
• Aldi
• Lidl

Auchan Ltd

Auchan Ltd is an international retail group in Lille, France. It is one of the world's principal distribution groups. It is present in 12 countries and employs 175,000 employees.

Auchan has branches in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Morocco, China and Taiwan. It entered the Romanian market in 2006.

As of 26 October 2005, Auchan has 356 hypermarkets, 646 supermarkets and 2027 small shops around the world, as well as 116 hypermarkets in France.

E. Leclerc

It is a French supermarket chain. The chain enables independent stores to operate under the Leclerc brand. Leclerc also has a partnership with Systeme U.

Own brand ranges come under the Marque Repere and Eco+ banners. Some larger hypermarkets have a separate entertainment/multimedia section, under the name of Espace Culturel.

System U

It is an independent tradesmen group working together within a co-operative structure. The co-operative grouping is owner of the signs, Hyper U, Super U and Gone U which it places at the disposal of his members.

The Group Casino

It is one of the first groups of French distribution. The group is with dominant food. Its presence is international. Its position of leader makes of it the second group with dimensions of the supermarket in France behind Crossroads. Its registered office is in its town of birth: Saint-Etienne.

Carrefour Ltd.

It is an international hypermarket chain founded in France, with a global network of outlets. It is the second largest retail group in the world in terms of revenue and sales figures after Wal-Mart. Carrefour operates mainly in the European Union, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, but also has shops in North Africa and Asia. Carrefour means cross-roads in French.

Champion

It is a supermarket chain that operates in France and is owned by the international retailer Carrefour. The second largest supermarket chain in France, its annual turnover is 12.2 billion euros. There are over 1,000 stores and 60,000 employees. There are also Champion supermarkets in Belgium, Spain, Norway, Poland, Greece, Turkey and Argentina. The chain grew in 1999 by absorbing the Stoc chain. In 2006, Carrefour closed most Brazilian Champion stores and converted the remainder into the Carrefour Bairro banner.

Les Mousquetaires

It is the parent company of various shop chains, there are various brands. The stores are independent entities in their own right, but are under the ownership of the Les Mousquetaires group. They are mostly suffixed by the term "Intermarché" (French word for market).

Leader Price

Leader Price is the brand of Casino group hardware-discount. It was created in 1989, accounts 416 stores (including 339 stores in France) and is present in 27 countries.

ALDI (short for "ALbrecht DIscount")

Is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany and one of the largest retail chains worldwide. The chain is made up of two separate groups, ALDI North (operating as ALDI MARKT) and ALDI South (operating as ALDI SÜD), which operate independently from each other in specific market boundaries.

Lidl

It is an European discount supermarket chain of German origin that operates in 5,000 stores. In Germany it is Aldi's main competitor. The full name of the company is Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG. It belongs to the holding company Schwarz, which also owns the store chains Handelshof and Kaufland.

Lidl has established itself in over 17 countries. It was founded in the 1930s by a member of the Schwarz family, and then called Schwarz Lebensmittel-Sortimentsgrosshandlung. In the 1970s the first Lidl stores of today's incarnation opened.

DIY shops

• Mr Bricolage
• Brico Dépôt
• Castorama
• Brico Marché
• Bricorama
• Leroy Merlin
• Weldom
• Lapeyre
• Bricoman

Mr. Bricolage

It is a chain of shops specialized in do-it-yourself material distribution and the house installation council. The company is member in Paris Bourse. It is in 1964 that an Orléan hardware merchant decides with about fifteen do-it-yourself stores owners to create Mr. Bricolage (under another name).

Castorama

Castorama is a retailer of DIY and home improvement tools and supplies.

The company merged with British DIY retailer B&Q in 1998, becoming part of Kingfisher plc. Some outlets have been converted or relocated under the 'Brico Dépôt' DIY warehouse format, based on the B&Q Warehouse fascia in the UK. Poland and Italy also have Castorama outlets.

Brico Dépôt

It is a do-it-yourself Chains shops pertaining to the Kingfisher group like Castorama, based on the model of the warehouses for professionals present in France with more than 70 points of sale, in Spain since 2003 with ten points of sale and in Poland since 2006.

Leroy Merlin

It is a French do-it-yourself company. The ensign Leroy Merlin is established today in France, in Spain, in Portugal, in Italy, in Poland, in Russia, in Greece, in China and in Brazil.

Weldom

Weldom is a French hypermarket chain selling home improvement, homewares gardening and do-it-yourself goods, operating franchises throughout France.