Cora is a chain of

hypermarkets A hypermarket 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 full grocery store, grocery lines and product (bu ...

owned by Louis Delhaize Group in Belgium, having previously also had hypermarkets in France, Hungary, Luxembourg and Romania. Cora was founded in 1974 by the supermarket holding Louis Delhaize Group, after taking over three Carrefour hypermarkets located in Belgium. These three were originally established around 1969 as a joint venture franchise between two other companies: the Carrefour Group and the Delhaize Group. The Louis Delhaize Group also included the supermarket chain

Match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

, the online supermarket Houra, the Truffaut garden center chain and the Animalis pet shop chain. The name 'Cora' is borrowed from the Greek goddess

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld afte ...

(Roman:

Proserpina Proserpina ( ; ) or Proserpine ( ) is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancient Roman fertility goddess Libera, whos ...

) who is also known as Cora. Formerly, Cora had hypermarkets in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, but in 2011 the stores were sold to

Auchan Auchan () is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% ...

and handled to them by summer 2012. Similarly, the Romanian stores were bought by

Carrefour Carrefour Group, S.A. (, ), is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, Essonne, Massy, France. It operates a chain of hypermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores. By 2024, the group had 14,000 ...

in October 2023. In 2024 E.Leclerc bought all Cora and Smatch stores in Luxembourg. In 2023 Carrefour bought all Cora and Smatch stores in France for 1 billion €. Carrefour finalized the acquisition of Cora and Smatch stores from Louis Delhaize in July 2024. Carrefour products are now available in Cora and Smatch. Starting from September 2024 to November 2024 Carrefour put all Cora Hypermarkets under the Carrefour banner in France. In April 2025, Cora announced it will close its only remaining hypermarkets (seven, all in Belgium) by 2026.https://www.retaildetail.eu/news/food/end-of-an-era-cora-closes-last-seven-hypermarkets/

Operations around the world

References

External links

Cora Belgium
{{French supermarkets Supermarkets of Belgium Hypermarkets of France Supermarkets of Romania Retail companies established in 1974 Belgian companies established in 1974