Carrefour gives up opening Atacadão in Paris – 03/14/2023 – Market

The Carrefour group withdrew from opening the first store of the Brazilian brand Atacadão in Greater Paris after the mayor of a small municipality created a petition against the installation of the market and called the idea “disastrous”.

The case took place in Sevran, a city of just over 50 thousand inhabitants, which is 18 km from the center of the French capital, and has mobilized the population of the region in recent weeks. There, a Carrefour store would be replaced by an Atacadão store.

The idea of ​​taking the Brazilian brand to Europe was one of the goals presented by the group’s global CEO, Alexandre Bompard, for the year 2023. Now, after Sevran’s negative reaction, the search for the location of the first Atacadão continues.

Largest wholesale in the country in number of stores, the chain ended 2022 with 374 units in Brazil, an increase of 50% compared to 2021, when it had 250 addresses. It is estimated that the brand, purchased by Carrefour for US$ 1.1 billion in 2007, already accounts for around 70% of the group’s revenues in Brazil.

Hence the idea of ​​bringing a type of market focused on the low-income population to a Europe that, in recent years, has suffered from inflation and a substantial increase in the cost of living —a situation exacerbated by the War in Ukraine. At Atacadão, food is bought in larger quantities and with great discounts.

The CEO of Carrefour had already announced the news to the French press. In November, he had said that the market would open for “back to school 2023”, describing the opening as “a gamble”, but “probably the best solution to the crisis”.

At the end of January, Bompard spoke to the press again, saying that the brand, which has the group’s most aggressive discount format, “works very well in Brazil”. And he provided details: “At Atacadão, we will not exceed 10,000 products, against up to 60,000 in hypermarkets, and we will propose very low prices”.

That was one of the reasons that angered the mayor of Sevran, Stéphane Blanchet, who didn’t want to see his town turned into a shopping corridor for the region. In early January, Carrefour had informed Sevran City Hall of the decision to open Atacadão there.

The reaction was immediate. On Jan. 16, he sent a letter to the CEO, calling the choice “disastrous.”

Days later, in an official statement, the mayor wrote that he was “fully mobilized alongside employees, unions and all actors in the territory to prevent this low-cost project, which degrades Sevran’s commercial offer and threatens the city project sustainable, ecological and supportive that we have been working hard for several years”.

As nothing happened in February, on March 2 the mayor decided to double the bet and launched the petition “No to Atacadão”. In addition, during the past week, the city government promoted discussions in the city’s schools and, on Saturday (11), a demonstration in front of Carrefour de Sevran.

Hours later, the group announced the withdrawal of the deal. “We are still in the study phase of different locations for the opening of the first Atacadão store in France, according to the schedule we established. There are no conditions for this to happen in Sevran”, said a spokesperson for Carrefour to the news agency. Associated Press.

A Sheet he called Sevran town hall, but Stéphane Blanchet chose not to be interviewed. The Carrefour group also did not indicate an executive who could respond to the report.

“Our mobilization made the Carrefour group bend. Atacadão’s logic of ‘always more’ to the detriment of quality of life, employment, the local economy, must be demolished”, celebrated, this Monday (13), deputy Clémentine Autain .

And he went further: “We don’t want him in Sevran or anywhere else.” Judging by the backlash, CEO Alxandre Bompard’s headaches are just beginning.