Auchan

Auchan is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 19611961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by Mulliez FamilyGérard Mulliez and is owned by Mulliez Family, which has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% stake in the company, it is the 35th largest employer in the world.

After meeting the founders of the Carrefour and Leclerc, on July 6, 1961, Gérard Mulliez opens the first Auchan store in a disused factory of the company Phildar, founded by his father, also named Gérard. Covering an area of 600 m2, this store was located in the district of Hauts-Champs, in Roubaix. Originally, the store was to be called "Ochan", but because of the Japanese sounding, changed the name to "Auchan". The choice of the initial letter "A" was desired by the founders to appear in first place in directories. Gérard Mulliez relied on the advice of Édouard Leclerc to open his first supermarket. This store had to be closed in the 1980s because of strong competition with the one that had been built in Leers. The building was bought by the Intermarché. In 2003 it was demolished to make space for a more modern store.

In the summer of 1967, on 20 August, Auchan opens its first hypermarket in Roncq in an initially commercial area of 3500 m2. According to Gérard Mulliez, Roncq location served as a model for other hypermarkets in France in non-food enlargement. On March 27, 1969 was opened the Englos-les-Géants shopping center at Englos in the Lille metropolis. Englos les Giants was the first shopping mall with a hypermarket and a retail park in France.

Auchan is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by Mulliez Family, which has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% stake in the company, it is the 35th largest employer in the world.

The name comes from the first Auchan shop in Roubaix in the district of Hauts-Champs, the pronunciation of which is identical to that of "Auchan".

The holding company, Auchan Holding, includes Auchan Retail International, Ceetrus, which operates shopping centers and Oney, which offers financial services. It operates as Alcampo in Spain ("al campo" is the literal Spanish translation of the French "au champ"), Auchan in Portugal, Aшан (Ashan) in Russia and Ukraine, and through a joint-venture as RT-Mart in China (Auchan brand is also used) and Taiwan.

As of 2022, Auchan is one of the world's largest retailers with a direct presence in France, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Taiwan and Senegal.