Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan at the official opening of the French hypermarket Carrefour in Yerevan.
The official opening of one of the world’s largest hypermarket chains, Carrefour took place on March 11 in Yerevan. Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan, Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan and the director of Carrefour Armenia Christian de Nale took part in the ceremonies.
The hypermarket chain is housed in Yerevan Mall and the retail space agreement between the two organizations was signed on May 13, 2014 during French President Francois Hollande’s state visit to Armenia. Hollande also took part in the signing ceremony.
Over the last several years there had been some controversy surrounding Carrefour’s entrance into the Armenian market because of successive delays. There was speculation that a number of influential businesspeople with close ties to the government were blocking attempts by Carrefour to open a hypermarket in Yerevan.
Carrefour is a French multinational retailer that has hypermarkets on several continents and boasts 1452 hypermarkets, making it the fourth largest retail group in the world after Wal-Mart, Tesco and Costco. The company operates on several continents.
