Relay is a chain of newspaper, magazine, book, and

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

s, mostly based in train stations and airports. It is owned by Lagardère Travel Retail, a subsidiary of

Lagardère Group Lagardère S.A. () is an international group with operations in over 40 countries. It is headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The group was created in 1992 as Matra, Hachette & Lagardère. Headed by Arnaud Lagardère, it is focuse ...

. Its heaviest concentration is in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, but it also operates in other countries. In 2010, the network had 1,100 shops on 4 continents.

History

Relay started under the name ''Relais H, when in 1852

Louis Hachette Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ...

acquired the "trainstations' libraries". The sales of newspapers quickly overperformed the sales of books. To keep books' sales up, Relais H innovated by creating book series and asking specific authors to write those series. In January 2000, the stores ''Relais H'' became ''Relay''. At that time, Relay owns 1,000 stores in 10 countries in Europe and North America. In October 2012, Lagardere TR created a joint-venture with Indian Travel Food Services to develop Relay in India. In February 2016, Lagardere sold its Travel Retail operations in Belgium to the

Bpost Bpost (stylised ''bpost'') also known as the Belgian Post Group, is the Belgian company responsible for the delivery of national and international mail. The Belgian Post Group is one of the largest civilian employers in Belgium. It provides a r ...

group for $491 million.

References

External links

www.relay.com
Official website Lagardère Group Retail companies established in 1852 Retail companies of France 1852 establishments in France {{Retail-company-stub