List published of Carrefour stores at risk of closure

The list, comprising 273 stores in total, was announced this week after the Carrefour group confirmed in late January that closures were expected. A further 79 stores could pass into a rental-management franchise model, away from the main Carrefour group.

None of the group’s hypermarchés are expected to be affected, with the closures set to primarily affect branches of Carrefour City, Carrefour Contact and Carrefour Contact Marché.

The news website Midi Libre has created a Google Map showing the location of each of the threatened stores, with the dark red icons showing those at risk of closure, and the lighter red showing those that could pass to a franchise model.

The source, which comes from a previously-confidential document from Carrefour, may still be subject to some changes, but the overall gist - that many stores are at risk of closure - has been confirmed.

Yet, the list demonstrates the likely extent of the group’s future plans, days after the group CEO Alexandre Bompard confirmed the group was planning a “transformation plan” and “a new ambition”, in a bid to save $2 billion in costs by 2020, and update the group for “21st century” commerce.

Bompard said the move would allow the group to invest more efficiently in its service in future, and make it “more productive and more competitive”.

He said: “If we reform, then we have a future.”

The changes are initially expected to incur the loss of around 2,400 jobs from the group’s head office HQ, primarily through a “voluntary redundancy” scheme.

Currently around 115,000 people across the country are employed by Carrefour, including in head office, and across stores nationwide.