Fresh Plaza: Food Retailing: German Rewe sells out to French E.Leclerc

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Food retailing: German Rewe sells out to French E.Leclerc

Food Retail: German Rewe sells out to French E.Leclerc

German supermarket network Rewe, which controls the Billa brand, decided to withdraw from its operations in Poland. The company will sell its 25 stores to French E.Leclerc, which already has 20 supermarkets in Poland. Billa employs almost 1,600 people across the country and generates annual revenues amounting to euro 100 million. "I am very happy that E.Leclerc has strengthened its position in Poland by making this purchase, and it will reach the relevant critical mass on the Polish market in order to compete effectively," said Alain Caparros, the head of the Rewe group.

Food retailing in Europe | The Germans are coming

Economist.com:

"Food retailing in Europe
The Germans are coming

Aug 14th 2008 | PARIS
From The Economist print edition
Germany’s “hard discount” model of supermarket retailing is spreading in Europe

IT IS as far from the charming ideal of French farmers’ markets and small family-owned shops as you could imagine: strip lights glare down on a narrow range of products in ugly packaging, displayed in cardboard boxes piled on the floor and on low shelves. But sales are booming at the new Lidl discount supermarket in south-west Paris. Previously, the German chain stuck to the suburbs, where poorer folk live, says Fatouh Mourad, the store’s manager. But rising food prices and widespread concern about “pouvoir d’achat”, or purchasing power, in France, has given Lidl the confidence to push inside the city’s limits."