Champion (supermarket)

Champion was a French supermarket group that belonged to CSF, a subsidiary of the Carrefour group. It existed from 1969 until 2010, when the brand was dropped in favor of Carrefour Market.

History

The first Champion supermarket was opened in 1969 in Mondeville, Calvados (France) by the Promodès distribution group, run by Paul-Auguste Halley and his two sons. For years it was the brand used by Promodès to unify all its medium-sized stores in France and Belgium, while the hypermarkets adopted the name Continente in 1972.

When Promodès merged with Carrefour in 1999, the new group renamed all hypermarkets (Carrefour) and supermarkets (Champion) in 2000. The brand had a rapid expansion in other countries, both in Europe (Poland, Greece and Turkey) and in South America (Argentina and Venezuela); in Spain, the establishments that operated under the Simago brand became Champion.

Starting in 2008, the Carrefour group announced an identity redesign: the supermarkets managed by Champion were renamed Carrefour Express (small stores) and Carrefour Market (medium stores). Thus, the brand officially disappeared in 2010, However, the company Supermercados Champion, S.A. subsists, although some stores continue under the ownership of Grupo Supeco Maxor, S.L., acquired by Carrefour in 2002.