Carrefour offloads dozens of hypermarkets and supermarkets in France

This year, Carrefour will transfer at least 8 hypermarkets and 36 supermarkets in France to independent operators. The retailer may soon add even more (loss-making) hypermarkets to that list.

Lower labor costs

This marks the ninth wave of privatizations for Carrefour since CEO Alexandre Bompard took office in 2018. Last January, the food retailer announced a similar operation involving 15 hypermarkets and 24 supermarkets, affecting as many as 4,000 employees. This year, the initial phase involves 8 hypermarkets and 36 supermarkets, together accounting for 3,204 employees, but according to the unions, seven additional hypermarkets will follow soon, reports trade magazine LSA.

The stores will be operated under a “location-gérance” arrangement, which means that Carrefour retains ownership of the real estate or lease and the business assets, but outsources the operation of the store to an independent manager. The retailer hopes this will make the stores more profitable: under the new arrangement, labor costs are lower and there is greater labor flexibility.

Meanwhile, in France, 80% of the 1,167 Carrefour supermarkets are already operated as franchises or under location-gérance. Among the hypermarkets—a division that has been operating at a loss since 2018—this already applies to more than 100 of the total 325 locations.