Hypermarket expansion has almost frozen this autumn: Carrefour,Real, and Auchan - the retailers that had seen the biggestexpansion on the segment until 2009 - are not inaugurating anystore in the fourth quarter of the year, making 2010 the year withthe lowest number of hypermarket openings.
Autumn used to be the season for hypermarket openings, becauseup until now retailers were keen to catch the holiday peak saleswith as many stores open as possible.
Amid a lack of funding for new shopping centres and dwindlingconsumption, 2010 is the first year where all three hypermarketoperators that pursued expansion during the boom years ofconsumption have slowed down "territorial expansion" abruptly.
The opposite is true for competitors who relied on a smallerhypermarket format: Kaufland and Cora.
Discount chain Kaufland has so far opened 9 stores this year,but company representatives declined to provide information on thecompany's future expansion projects.
In turn, Cora can be considered the surprise of this year'shypermarket segment, with the chain to double the number of storesin a year with declines across the entire sector.
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