Carrefour S.A. is a French multinational retail company based in Greater Paris. It is one of the largest retailers in the world (along with Wal-Mart Stores and Tesco PLC).
The group operates over 10,000 stores in 34 countries across Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa – with more than 10 million checkouts occuring every day.
According to Carrefour, because of its increasing global presence, it generates more than 55% of its sales outside France.
The first Carrefour store was founded by the Fournier, Badin and Defforey families in 1959. It was a success and the company began expanding its presence in France.
The company became the first European company to open a hypermarket – a supermarket and department store.
Carrefour now operates a number of different retail formats, including: hypermarkets (between 2,400 sq. m and 23,000 sq. m), supermarkets (from 1,000 sq. m to 4,000 sq. m), cash & carry, and convenience stores.
In 1970 the company went public on the Paris stock exchange.