La Vie Claire is a French chain of
health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
product
Product may refer to:
Business
* Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem.
* Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution
Mathematics
* Produ ...
stores. It sponsored one of the strongest cycling teams of all time called
La Vie Claire
La Vie Claire was a professional road bicycle racing team named after its chief sponsor La Vie Claire, a chain of health food stores.
History
The La Vie Claire team was created in 1984 by Bernard Tapie and directed by Paul Köchli. The t ...
with Bernard Hinault.
Description
The company was founded by Henri-Charles Geffroy. The La Vie claire magazine he founded in 1946 to spread his ideas on healthy eating met with such success that, in 1948, he set up the very first French organic farming store in Paris, a cooperative to provide subscribers with "healthy food" (in fact, it was to be the first store in the future Maisons de La Vie claire network). In 1951, l'Aliment sain was founded, and the cooperative wound up. In 1965, this company became the Société française d'alimentation saine.
In 1980, it was bought by
Bernard Tapie
Bernard Roger Tapie (; 26 January 1943 – 3 October 2021) was a French businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host. He was Minister of City Affairs in the government of Pierre Bérégovoy.
Life and career
Tapie was bor ...
with a 200 million
francs
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...
turnover (30 million
Euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
) through 250 stores. In 1996, it generated only 10.6 million euros turnover with 120 stores. It was sold through
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 ...
(CDR) to
Distriborg for 10 million francs.
Footnotes
External links
official website
Retail companies of France
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