In 1949 Edouard Leclerc opened his first shop in the front room of his
house in Landerneau, Brittany. His prices were between 30% and 200% cheaper than
in other shops.
In 1959 the first
Centre Leclerc was created in Paris and
in 1995 the first shops opened in Poland and in Portugal.
The Leclerc 'movement' is a co-operative franchise, whose members have a shared philosophy about the retail business. Leclerc has launched
offensives against monopolistic and privileged commercial practices involving
the distribution of various 'products' like fuel, non-prescription pharmaceuticals,
gold jewellery, travel services, books, perfumes and textiles.
The Leclerc
movement now includes 356 hypermarkets, 159 supermarkets as well as 39 specialised
shops (furniture, shoes, clothes); 64,000 people work for Leclerc.
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