On Saturday, June 15, 1963, more than 5,000 people gathered in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois in the Essonne department. The reason? The opening of a supermarket unlike anything France had ever seen before—a hypermarket that would revolutionize the way people shop. With more than 2,500 square meters of retail space, food and clothing, 400 parking spaces, and a gas station, this Carrefour was unlike any other large retail store in France.
France’s very first hypermarket is still in operation!
Selling everything under one roof, on a self-service basis, and in large quantities: that’s the motto of this “hypermarket,” a concept previously unseen in France. Today, there are nearly 2,300 supermarkets following this model. And the Carrefour in Sainte-Geneviève is still welcoming customers, in a space that has more than tripled in size!
At the grand opening, the success was such that the influx of 5,000 customers forced the store to temporarily close several times, notably to restock its shelves. The change was radical for customers, whose numbers grew over time: fresh produce, clothing, and home goods were all found in one place, backed by a low-price policy.
The model was quickly copied. In 1966, Carrefour opened a 10,000-square-meter hypermarket in Vénissieux—four times larger than the one in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois. A few decades later, there were thousands of hypermarkets in France.
The historic site, for its part, has kept pace with this evolution. In 2023, it was still welcoming nearly 5,000 customers a day, and its floor space had exceeded 8,000 square meters. Since then, curbside pickup, express delivery, and various other services have been added. Sixty-three years later, France’s first hypermarket is still going strong!