Retail Holding: Five Carrefour Exits, One Atacadão to Attempt a Comeback in France

Retail Holding’s venture in France is undergoing a significant transformation. After managing six Carrefour hypermarkets, the group led by Zouhair Bennani is now down to just one, which has been rebranded as an Atacadão.
The French expansion of Retail Holding, which is already a Carrefour franchisee in Morocco through LabelVie, began with a clear ambition: to leverage the operation of Carrefour hypermarkets to establish a foothold in France and prepare the launch of Atacadão.
The group had progressively taken over six Carrefour stores through management leases. According to data released by Le Desk, this activity generated a cumulative revenue of €562.4 million in 2023. However, the financial performance of the operating companies soon deteriorated, with several reporting losses in 2024.
Since then, the portfolio has contracted significantly. Five of the six originally entrusted stores have exited Retail Holding’s portfolio, as reported by Le Desk. The withdrawal occurred gradually, coinciding with the end of contracts and cessation of activities of various operating companies.
Only one asset remains, but it comes with a new model.
The last site, located in Aulnay-sous-Bois, is no longer a traditional Carrefour. The former hypermarket has been transformed into an Atacadão, a discount-dominant retail format developed by the group.
Opened in 2024, this store serves as Retail Holding’s main base to try and rebuild its presence in France. The project is in partnership with Carrefour, which is also a stakeholder in the company that operates the site.
The choice of Atacadão signifies a shift in strategy. The focus is no longer on expanding Carrefour-branded hypermarkets, but on testing a model in France that Retail Holding is already familiar with from Morocco: a price-oriented offering aimed at both professionals and private customers.
From ambitious expansion to strategic refocus
The balance sheet for this initial phase in France is therefore mixed. The revenues generated by the six stores demonstrated the group’s ability to quickly reach a significant scale. However, the decline in results and the successive exit of five locations have curtailed this expansion strategy.
Nonetheless, Retail Holding still has a chance with Atacadão. The French market, highly competitive and marked by strong price pressures, presents a challenging environment for this format.
For Zouhair Bennani, the challenge is now less about conquering new retail spaces and more about proving the economic viability of the Atacadão model. Following the Carrefour venture, the group must demonstrate that a more specialized format can enable it to sustainably establish itself in France.
With five Carrefour stores exited and one Atacadão retained, Retail Holding’s French gamble is now entering a phase of refocusing, with profitability as the main objective.