Gerard Mulliez

Gérard Mulliez (Roubaix, May 13, 1931) comes from a very wealthy textile family (Phildar) from northern France.

At the end of the fifties he went to the United States to attend Bernardo Trujillo's seminars on the new commercial formulas that were being born in the United States. Inspired by the Carrefour model (whose founder, Marcel Fournier, applied the precepts of Bernardo Trujillo), Gérard Mulliez opened his first store in Roubaix in 1961 in the Altos Campos neighborhood.

However, the beginnings were difficult and the results lamentable. Gérard Mulliez then decided to listen to Edouard Leclerc (founder of Leclerc stores) and discovered that selling cheaper made selling even more. In particular, he applied this principle to whiskey, the prices of which he broke.

He is currently president of the Auchan group and also of all the chains in his group: Auchan, Akí, Alcampo, Alinéa, Amarine, Boulanger, BricomartDecathlon, Flunch, Kiabi, Kiloutou, Leroy Merlin, OBI, Norauto, Picpain, Pimkie, Picwic, Pizza Paï, Telandcom, Saint-Maclou, and 3 Suisses.

He was also awarded the Legion of Honor.