Fnac () is a large French retail chain selling

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...

and electronic products, founded by André Essel and

Max Théret Max Théret (6 January 191325 February 2009) was the co-founder of Fnac, originally ''Fédération nationale d’achats des cadres, or National Purchasing Federation for Middle Managers'', alongside André Essel. He was also a freemason antifasci ...

in 1954. Its head office is in ''Le Flavia'' in Ivry-sur-Seine near

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. It is an abbreviation of Fédération Nationale d’Achats des Cadres ("National Purchasing Federation for Cadres"). It merged with Darty in 2016 to become

Groupe Fnac Darty Groupe Fnac Darty, formerly Kesa Electricals plc, Darty plc and Darty Limited, is a multinational retail company headquartered in Ivry-sur-Seine, France. It was formerly a public limited company (PLC) listed on the London Stock Exchange, until ...

Core values

The company's founders were André Essel and

. Fnac was founded in 1954. Fnac holds "forums" throughout the year, which are opportunities for customers to have dialogue with people such as

Pedro Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; (often known simply as Almodóvar) born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish filmmaker. His films are marked by melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narr ...

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

, and

David Cronenberg David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation ...

, discussions with authors including

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include ''The New York Trilogy'' (1987), ''Moon Palace'' (1989), ''The Music of Chance'' (1990), ''The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The Broo ...

Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu (; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influence i ...

, and Françoise Giroud in addition to concerts. Musicians playing in these concerts have included

Yann Tiersen Yann Tiersen (born 23 June 1970) is a French Breton musician and composer. His musical career is split between studio recordings, music collaborations and film soundtracks songwriting. His music incorporates a large variety of classical and c ...

, Ben Harper, Keane and

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

. Each year a "book fair" is held with discussions among writers, politicians and the public. Topics related to literature, culture, society and the sciences are discussed. Since 2001 the company has also annually presented an award, Le

prix du roman Fnac The prix du roman Fnac is a French literary award established in 2002 by the retail chain Fnac. List of winners {, width="80%" class="wikitable sortable" align="center" style="margin:1em auto;" ! Year , , , , Author , , Title , , Publisher ...

, whose winners are chosen by a panel of booksellers and members.

Dominique Mainard Dominique Mainard is a French translator of English novels, short story writer and novelist. She was born in Paris, France, in 1967 and grew up in the region of Lyon, and spent five years in the United States. She won the 2009 Prix des Libraires ( ...

Pierre Charras Pierre Charras (19 March 1945 – 19 January 2014) was a French writer, actor and translator from English to French. He published several novels including ''Monsieur Henri'', Prix des Deux Magots (1995), ''Juste avant la nuit'' (1998), ''Comédie ...

and

Pierre Péju Pierre Péju (born 1946) is a French philosopher, novelist and essayist. Born in Lyon, he studied at the Sorbonne. He has published a number of works in different literary genres, the best-known of which are two prize-winning novels ''Le rire de l ...

are among those who have won. These events are shown on the company website fnaclive.com (in French). The company claims to be committed to defending the diversity of music. In February 2002, Fnac published with UPFI (Union des Producteurs Phonographiques Français Indépendants) "Manifeste pour la diversité musicale", as a prelude to a policy of favorable treatment for independent labels and their artists. Fnac publishes "Indétendances," a compilation of ten artists bimonthly published by independent labels, which it set aside part of its listening kiosks in stores to promote their work.

History

had a passion for

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

which began in 1932. Hunted by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

, Théret left the

Occupied Zone Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...

in 1942, moving to Grenoble, where he took up photography as a career. After the war, he trained as a photo laboratory technician, founded his own laboratory, and later constructed the first colour-processing machine in France. In 1951, while working for the

telephone company A telephone company, also known as a telco, telephone service provider, or telecommunications operator, is a kind of communications service provider (CSP), more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunicat ...

, he founded Economie Nouvelle, a membership discount buying group for products sold through participating merchants. In 1952, Théret and André Essel conceived a new magazine-based buyers club. Founded 1954, Fnac was a members-only discount buyers' club, offering sharp discounts on commercial and consumer products, based on the founders' socialist principles. Their aim was to improve the lives of the workers, not through higher salaries but through lower prices. The first shop was opened in a sublet, a second-floor apartment on the rue de Sebastopol in Paris on July 31, 1954. The brand positioning of the company continued with the training of sales assistants in their product categories, with purchases being guaranteed for one year. Furthermore, all products were tested in the company's independent test centre before sale. The test centre would check for technical quality, ease of use, price, and value for money ("rapport qualité-prix"), and all results were published in the company's free members' magazine ''Contact,'' which today can also be found advertised in store. In addition, staff were expected to do more than just sell their products but offer advice to customers and, beginning in 1957, blacklist any unsatisfactory products, such as those with technical difficulties. By the end of its first full year of operation the company saw revenues of 50 million old francs. In 1957, it was selling televisions, hi-fis, recording equipment,

radios Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

and records.

1960s and 1970s

In 1966, the Fnac store was opened to non-members and began to expand, opening its second store, also in

on the avenue de Wagram, near the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...

in 1969. By this time, the company had 580 employees. The 1970s saw further expansion for Fnac, as the company began opening shops in the French provinces outside Paris and a third in the city itself that sold books, the newest addition to the product range. The founders of the company sold 40 percent of the company to insurance firm

Union des Assurances de Paris Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Ax ...

(now

Axa Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Ax ...

) to raise money to fund growth. In turn, the insurance firm sold 16 percent of its shares to investment bank Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas (later

Banque Paribas BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the group ...

) in 1972. In 1974, the company began selling books at 80% of the

recommended retail price The list price, also known as the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), or the recommended retail price (RRP), or the suggested retail price (SRP) of a product is the price at which its manufacturer notionally recommends that a retailer ...

, sparking protests from publishers, writers and independent booksellers alike, who could not benefit from the

economies of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables ...

. This prompted government action in 1982 with the so-called 'anti-Fnac' law, that was signed to limit discounts on books to a maximum of five percent. In 1975, videos were added to the product range. Towards the late 1970s, Fnac continued to expand by building to 12 stores in Paris and other cities through France. In 1977, the remaining shares of the company's founders were sold to the Société Génerale des Cooperatives de Consommation (SGCC, the financial arm of the Coop retailing group) to raise more capital.

1980s and 1990s

FNAC became a

Public limited company A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a limited liability company ...

on the

Paris stock exchange Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined market ...

in 1980 when 25 percent of the company was offered to the public. SGCC, however, maintained a 51 percent control of the company, which now employed more than 2,700 and was declaring turnover of FFr 2.2 billion. Fnac Ternes

Théret left the company in 1981. In 1981, FNAC opened a store in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium under the management of Sodal, a joint-venture between FNAC (40 percent) and the GIB Group (60 percent). The GIB Group later added three more stores in the mid-1980s, in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, and

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

. In 1983, Essel retired and was replaced by the then SGCC president Roger Kerinec. In 1985, SGCC sold its shares to the insurance group Garantie Mutuelle des Fonctionnaires (GMF) due to growing competition from the French

hypermarket A hypermarket (sometimes called a hyperstore, supercentre or superstore) is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including ...

and discount chains such as Carrefour and

E.Leclerc E.Leclerc (informally simply Leclerc, ) is a French cooperative society and hypermarket chain, headquartered in Ivry-sur-Seine. E.Leclerc was established on 1 January 1948 by Édouard Leclerc in Brittany. E.Leclerc currently has more than 720 ...

. Michel Barouin, GMF's president and director general, took these positions at FNAC as well. In 1987, Barouin disappeared in an airplane accident and Jean-Louis Petriat was named to lead both GMF and FNAC. In 1988, the first Virgin Megastore opened in

. Petriat announced a FFr 1.5 billion plan to add 15 new stores to the 31-store chain and double the company's gross revenues, in order to compete with the new entrant to the French market. Petriat also had plans to expand into the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

market. By this point, sales of compact discs and other recordings had joined books as the company's most important sources of revenue. During the late 1980s, Petriat added a music distribution division following the purchase of Wotre Music Distribution (WMD). In January 1991, Fnac Music was formed. Petriat hoped to build the first French multinational record company, with plans to capture as much as five percent of the market. The 1990s brought fierce competition after the arrival of

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

and

Virgin Megastores Virgin Megastores is an international entertainment retailing chain, founded in early 1976 by Richard Branson as a record shop on London's Oxford Street. In 1979 the company opened their first Megastore at the end of Oxford Street and Tottenha ...

in 1988 as well as the strength of hypermarkets. The company responded by cutting its prices and stepping up the competition, which forced HMV to leave France after only six months. Virgin Megastores remained in the French market, and decided to open two more stores in addition to its original store in

. In response to the megastore, as seen to the right, Fnac spent around $23 million to build its own megastore, at 32,000 square metres, more than twice the size of the Virgin megastore, which became known as "the Cathedral". In 1991, the first Fnac store was opened in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

continuing with Petriat's plans, this was close to the original Virgin megastore, which opened there only a few months earlier. In 1992, the fate of FNAC Librairie Internationale, featuring books in languages other than French, was sealed and closed after only a year of trading. This store was converted to a computer products-only concept, called FNAC Micro, which proved more successful. In 1993, the first Fnac store was opened in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain. However, the FNAC Music subsidiary, while posting some successes, failed to live up to the company's expectations and was unable to gain more than a two percent market share and was eventually sold off the distribution arm WMD, which shut down FNAC Music in 1994. Despite some failures, the company revealed growing revenues though shrinking profits in the early 1990s, also attributed to the

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

in the French economy. In 1991 the company recorded gross sales of FFr 7.4 billion, while profits fell approximately FFr 55 million, to FFr 159.5 million. The following year, despite a rise in revenues to FFr 8.9 billion, the company's net income dropped to FFr 31.9 million. The falling profits for Fnac was a similar situation to the parent company, GMF whose share count totalled more than 80 percent. To raise more capital, GMF agreed to sell its shares of FNAC in July 1993 to Altus Finances, a subsidiary of government-owned

Crédit Lyonnais The Crédit Lyonnais (, "Lyon Credit ompany) was a major French bank, created in 1863 and absorbed by former rival Crédit Agricole in 2003. Its head office was initially in Lyon but moved to Paris in 1882. In the early years of the 20th cent ...

, and Phenix, a property group owned by French waterworks company

Compagnie Générale des Eaux Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...

, for FFr 2.4 billion. The deal came under scrutiny by the Commission des opérations de bourse (COB) though was allowed to proceed in September 1993. Crédit Lyonnais became the majority shareholder, with 64 percent of shares, while Générale des Eaux held 34 percent. The remaining two percent of shares continued to be publicly owned. In 1994, Crédit Lyonnais announced it was going to sell its 64 percent share of the company as part of a FFr 20 billion asset-reduction plan. In July 1994, the Altus Finances subsidiary agreed to sell the majority stake in FNAC for FFr 1.9 billion to François Pinault, the largest shareholder in and architect of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute. Since 1994, PPR or Pinault-Printemps-Redoute has been the majority shareholder of Fnac and the company was led by François-Henri Pinault, son of the parent company's head François Pinault. The new ownership saw the closure of the WMD and FNAC Music subsidiaries and instead concentrated on further expansion of its retail chain. In 1995, the company added its 45th French store, while a second Spanish store, in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

was opened in 1996. In 1995, the Fnac store was closed in

and the company instead continued its international expansion in Belgium, which were now becoming profitable. In October 1996, the new parent company assumed full control of the Belgian affiliate and announced plans to double the number of stores in Belgium that began with the opening of a fifth store in 1997. In March 1996, François-Henri, was named chairman of Fnac and opened two stores in France. At this point, Fnac had revenues passing FFr 10 billion and net earnings of FFr 200 million. In 1999, the first Fnac store outside Europe was opened in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

(Brazil).

2000s

In 2013, Kering (formerly PPR) spun off Fnac as an independent company. In 2017,

Fnac Darty Groupe Fnac Darty, formerly Kesa Electricals plc, Darty plc and Darty Limited, is a multinational retail company headquartered in Ivry-sur-Seine, France. It was formerly a public limited company (PLC) listed on the London Stock Exchange, until ...

launched into online advertising with the sale of its own web spaces to advertisers. In particular, the group set up a specialised department in January, headed by Arnauld de Saint Pastou. In May 2017, Fnac launched its own bank card, called Fnac Mastercard, in partnership with Crédit Agricole and Consumer Finance. On 17 July 2017, Enrique Martinez and Jacques Veyrat became the new bosses of Fnac and replaced Alexandre Bompard, who left for Carrefour. Jacques Veyrat, currently chairman of the investment company Impala, becomes chairman of the board of directors, while Enrique Martinez, who previously headed the Northern Europe region at Fnac Darty, is appointed CEO of the company. In February 2018, the French Property and Casualty Insurance Company (Sfam) became the second largest shareholder in the Fnac Darty group. On August 30, 2018, the UFC-Que choisir announces filing a complaint for "deceptive marketing practices". In June 2019, the company was fined 10 million euros for "deceptive marketing practices". Customers buying a phone in a FNAC store are indeed offered a refund offer of 30 euros, which leads them to leave their bank details to enjoy, signing unknowingly an insurance contract mixed documents. It then commits them for one year to pay 15.99 euros per month, monthly payments then rising to 37.99 euros, customers often not aware of the situation that several months later. In April 2020, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fnac was the first large French company to tap a government-guaranteed loan (500 million euro).

Operations

As of October 2018, the company owns stores in France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and is present as franchising in Morocco, Qatar, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Congo.

Tunisia

Fnac operates two stores in Tunisia. The first one opened in 2018 in

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, and the second in 2019 in

Sousse Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...

Belgium

Fnac operates ten stores in Belgium, located in Aalst, Antwerp (two stores, including one in the outskirts of Wijnegem), Bruges, Brussels (two stores), Ghent, Leuven, Louvain-La-Neuve and Liège.

Brazil

At the height of its popularity in Brazil, there were twelve Fnac stores operating simultaneously in several Brazilian cities. In July 2017, all Fnac operations in Brazil were transferred to

Livraria Cultura Livraria Cultura is a chain of bookstores in Brazil, founded in 1948 in São Paulo by Eva Herz. History In 1947, Eva Herz, daughter of German immigrants, set up a book rental service called Biblioteca Circulante ''(Circulating Library)'' at her ...

. In October 2018, all shops were closed and online operations ceased.

Monaco

Fnac operates a single store in Monaco, in the Métropole shopping centre. Fnac Sta Catarina (Porto)

Morocco

In 2011, Fnac opened its first store in Africa, located in Morocco Mall in

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

, Morocco. In 2017, Fnac opened their second store in Morocco, located in Ibn Batouta Mall in

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...

. In 2018, they opened Fnac Anfa located in the city centre of Casablanca.

Portugal

There are 32 Fnac stores in Portugal, including:

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

(

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

), NorteShopping (

Matosinhos Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal () is a city and a municipality in the northern Porto district of Portugal, bordered in the south by the city of Porto (8 km from the city centre). The population in 2011 was 175,478, and covered an area of approx ...

), Armazéns do Chiado (

), CascaiShopping (

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Portugal, tourist de ...

), Oeiras Parque ( Oeiras), Santa Catarina (

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

), Almada (

Almada Almada () is a city and a municipality in Portugal, located on the southern margin of the Tagus River, on the opposite side of the river from Lisbon. The two cities are connected by the 25 de Abril Bridge. The population in 2011 was 174,030, in a ...

), GaiaShopping (

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenog ...

), AlgarveShopping (

Albufeira Albufeira () is a city and seat of its own municipality in the district of Faro, in the southernmost Portuguese region of Algarve. The municipality population in 2021 was 44,158, in an area of . The city proper had a population of 28,645 in 2021 ...

), Intermarche (

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

), Forum Coimbra (

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...

), MadeiraShopping (

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

), Braga Parque ( Braga), Alegro (

Alfragide Alfragide () is a parish in Amadora Municipality. The population in 2011 was 17,044,

), Palácio do Gelo ( Viseu), MarShopping-IKEA (

), Vasco da Gama (

), GuimarãeShopping (

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...

), LeiriaShopping (

Leiria Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...

), Lisbon Airport (

), Alegro Setúbal (

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

), Fórum Montijo ( Montijo ), Fórum Évora (

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old to ...

), UBBO ( Amadora) and Amoreiras Shopping (

). Also a website (fnac.pt), which was the most popular commercial website in Portugal in 2007.

Qatar

There are two FNAC stores in the capital Doha, one in Laguna Mall, the other one in Doha Festival City.

Spain

There are 26 Fnac stores in Spain, including: Plaza Callao (

), L'illa (

), San Agustín (

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

), Triangle (Barcelona), Coso (

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

), Bulevar (

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

), Parque Principado (

Oviedo Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located ap ...

), Diagonal Mar (Barcelona), La Cañada ( Marbella, Málaga), Plaza (Marbella, Málaga), Plaza Norte ( San Sebastián de los Reyes, Madrid), ParqueSur ( Leganés, Madrid), Donostia (

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

), Nueva Condomina ( Murcia), Bilbao (

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

), Ave. de La Constitución (

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

), Praza de Lugo ( Corunna), Málaga Plaza (

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

), Plaza Imperial (

), Centro Comercial Rio Shopping (

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

) La Gavia (Madrid), Paseo de la Castellana (Madrid) and Centro Comercial La Morea (

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

). The headquarters is located in Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid.

Switzerland

As of 2018, there are six Fnac stores in Switzerland, two in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, one in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

, one in Fribourg, one in

Conthey Conthey is a municipality in the district of Conthey in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Conthey is first mentioned about 800 as ''curtis Contextis''. In 1146 it was mentioned as ''ecclesiam de Plano Contesio''. Geography Cont ...

and one in

Neuchâtel , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France), ...

Loyalty programme

Fnac operates a

loyalty programme A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. Today, such programs cover most types of commerce, each having varying features an ...

offering points that are awarded each time the card is presented at the till-point, for each euro spent. A membership fee applies. For every 4,000 points earned, a gift card worth €10 is issued to the card holder. As of 2008, the programme has 1.8 million members, with the loyalty card also serving as a credit card. As of 2008, there are two versions of the card, a one-year membership card or alternatively a three-year membership card. The membership card offers a 5% discount on hardware, books and various monthly offers.

Product range

Fnac stores stock a range of products from

audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...

, books,

CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

, computer software and hardware,

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

s, televisions and video games. Some stores also operate services of photography and ticket sales. The company also offers a selection of more expensive consumer products positioning themselves above discount retailers.

Head office

Fnac's head office is in ''Le Flavia'' in Ivry-sur-Seine, France. The 6 story building was designed by Jean-Claude Besseau and has of space. The building is a part of the Ivry Port project. Previously the company head office was located in Clichy-la-Garenne,

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a Departments of France, département in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner Banlieue, suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the e ...

. Around 2006 there were rumors stating that Fnac would move to

Wissous Wissous () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. Paris-Orly Airport is partially located in the commune. Population Inhabitants of Wissous are known as ''Wissoussiens''. History Wissous appears in ...

. In 2008 the head office moved to Ivry-sur-Seine. The subsidiary Fnac.com moved from

Aubervilliers Aubervilliers () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, Île-de-France region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Albertivillariens'' or ''Albertivillariennes''. Geography Localisati ...

to Ivry during the same year.150 salariés de la Fnac arrivent encore à Ivry

Archive
. ''

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH. Histor ...

''. 17 June 2008. Retrieved on 10 March 2010. "HIER, c'était le dernier jour d'aménagement au nouveau siège social de la Fnac, au bord de la Seine à Ivry-Port. Les 150 derniers arrivés viennent de la filiale Fnac.com, basée jusqu'à présent à Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis). Ils rejoignent ainsi les 850 autres employés qui sont déjà installés depuis le début du mois à Ivry."

In popular culture

In the 1995 Spanish horror-comedy "El Día de la Bestia" (Eng.

The Day of the Beast ''The Day of the Beast'' ( es, El día de la bestia, links=no) is a 1995 Spanish-Italian black comedy film with horror elements co-written and directed by Álex de la Iglesia and starring Álex Angulo, Armando De Razza and Santiago Segura. The p ...

), the main character Ángel is caught trying to steal a book from the FNAC store in

Callao Square The Callao Square ( es, plaza del Callao) is located at the centre of the Spanish capital of Madrid. History and description Shaped in 1861, the square was formally opened in June 1866; its name remembers the May 1866 battle of Callao between t ...

. The story of the 2005 Spanish thriller ''Mar rojo'', starring Maribel Verdú, begins with an armed robbery at a Fnac store in