The maneuver has symbolic value. The Grand Frais food supermarket chain is preparing to enter the capital. A movement which is reminiscent of the arrival in Paris of large suburban brands, such as Ikea in 2019 or Leroy-Merlin in 2002, in search of a new clientele.
According to the documents that The world has obtained, Grand Frais is discreetly preparing the opening of its first supermarket in Paris, at 20, rue Lecourbe, in 15e district, in place of a former Bio c’Bon store abandoned by Carrefour. 485.8 square meters of sales area “fresh food products”, operated under the Mon-marché.fr brand, named after its delivery service in Paris and its nearby suburbs. Opening planned for the first quarter of 2024.
Grand Frais is the type of food store that mass retailers have envied for many years. A distributor whose turnover is estimated at 3.3 billion euros in 2023, with more than 350 stores in its galaxy.
Favorite brand of the French in 2022 in the “specialized food” category as revealed by the EY-Parthenon study, the Grand Frais model has spread to peri-urban commercial areas with a very specific concept based on the sale of food products: fruits and ultra-fresh vegetables, always well arranged, lit like jewels, and artistic displays including engravings made in cheese wheels. Enough to catch the eye of consumers looking for good food. And finally convince them to take out their wallets with prices in line with mass distribution.
A site “growing in double digits”
Founded in 1992 in Givors (Rhône) by Denis Dumont – wholesaler and son of a wholesaler who became the fourteenth richest French personality in Switzerland in 2022, according to the Swiss magazine Balance sheet –, the concept today revolves around three brands. First of all, the Grand Frais stores, with 307 points of sale built in the shape of a food hall of almost 1,000 square meters, and an average opening rate of two stores per month in commercial areas.
Then, Fresh, with its green and white logo and its supermarkets of less than 500 square meters located in small provincial towns or their outskirts at a rate of 10 to 15 openings per year. The first opened in 2017 in Belley (Ain), and the fiftieth will settle in Saint-Pol-de-Léon (Finistère) at the beginning of 2024. And finally, Mon-marché.fr, launched in March 2020, with workshops preparation in parking lots. An online sales site “in double-digit growth since its creation, but we do not disclose data”indicates Hervé Vallat, the chairman of the board of Prosol, the parent company of Grand Frais, rare in the media.
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