Géant Casino () was a
hypermarket
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 lines and general merchandise. In ...
chain based in
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...
, France, part of the French retailing giant
Groupe Casino
Casino Group or Casino Guichard-Perrachon is a French Mass market, mass-market retail group. It was founded on 2 August 1898 by :fr:Geoffroy Guichard, Geoffroy Guichard under the corporate name Guichard-Perrachon & Co.
Casino Group is the sourc ...
. In 2022, the brand was gradually replaced by Casino #hyperFrais.
Between June 2023 and October 2024, in the grip of a financial crisis linked to its debt, the group closed or sold all of its hypermarkets in France to competitors.
During this crisis, the brand is also gradually being replaced by competitors in various countries.
History
Géant opened its first hypermarket in 1970. In December 2015, Géant Casino had about 142 hypermarkets all over the world. The concept is, like most hypermarkets, to have all kinds of items available under one roof. A loyalty card system has been introduced by Géant, with a price discount on certain groceries.
In June 2022, with the aim of re-emphasizing the food side of hypermarkets, and after the transfert of 29 hypermerkets to the brand
Casino Supermarchés. The Groupe Casino announce the discountinuation of the Géant Casino brand in favor of the new brand
Casino #hyperFrais.
For financial reasons, the group closed or sold all of its hypermarkets in France to competitors between June 2023 and October 2024.
Former locations

* Lebanon: Géant had one hypermarket in Lebanon which was bought in late 2008 by Sultan Trading Center and replaced by
The Sultan Center
Sultan () is a retail store chain based in Kuwait.
History
The four-decade-long story of Sultan was founded by Jamil Sultan. In 1981, he established the first self-service retail store in Kuwait; it was based in Shuwaikh and took on a Home C ...
to be replaced 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 2017 upon its closure in Lebanon
* Poland: Géant had nineteen hypermarkets in Poland, which were sold in late 2007 and early 2008 to the German company
Metro AG
Metro AG is a German multinational company based in Düsseldorf which operates business membership-only cash and carry stores primarily under the Metro brand. , Metro is operating 626 wholesale stores in 21 countries, including Europe and P ...
and replaced with
Real
Real may refer to:
Currencies
* Argentine real
* Brazilian real (R$)
* Central American Republic real
* Mexican real
* Portuguese real
* Spanish real
* Spanish colonial real
Nature and science
* Reality, the state of things as they exist, rathe ...
.
* Taiwan: Géant had several hypermarket locations in Taiwan in a joint venture with a Taiwanese company. After Géant pulled out of the country, the existing hypermarkets were renamed
a.mart.
* Saudi Arabia:
Al Hokair Group operated several Géant stores in the kingdom until 2009 when it was sold to
Saudi Savola, the owners of rival
Panda
The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is ...
.
* Kuwait, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates: Fu-Com joined with Groupe Casino to bring the Géant hypermarket brand to the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
where Géant opened its first store in
Bahrain
Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
in May 2001. A store was opened in
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
in 2005 and one in
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...
in 2015 at Yas Mall. Géant expanded its operations to Kuwait by opening a store in 2005 in
Kuwait City
Kuwait City (; ) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economic center of the emirate, containing Kuwait's Seif Pal ...
. In 2017, Dubai-based
Majid Al Futtaim Group
Majid Al Futtaim Holding () is an Emirati holding company based in Dubai. The family-owned conglomerate owns and operates shopping malls, retail, and hotel establishments in the Middle East and North Africa.
The firm was established by M ...
bought 26 Geant hypermarkets in the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait by acquiring the Geant franchise owner Retail Arabia from BMA International for an undisclosed amount. The acquired stores were rebranded as
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 ...
and
Carrefour Market
Carrefour Market is a French supermarket chain created in 2007, owned by the international retail group Carrefour, and has currently stores in France and several other countries, see below.
Carrefour Market stores generally range from 1000 m2 t ...
for its supermarket branches.
* France: For financial reasons, the group closed or sold all of its hypermarkets in France to competitors between June 2023 and October 2024.
* Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon and Senegal: In 2023,
Mercure International of Monaco
Mercure may refer to:
* MERCURE, an atmospheric dispersion modelling CFD code developed by Électricité de France
* Mercure Hotels, a chain of hotels run by Accor
* French ship ''Mercure'' (1783)
* Dassault Mercure, a French airliner built in th ...
began replacing Géant brands with
Coopérative U
Coopérative U (Système U before 2024) is a French symbol group retailers cooperative of independent hypermarkets and supermarkets, headquartered in the Parc Tertiaire SILIC in Rungis, France.
It owns the trademarks Hyper U, Super U, U Expres ...
in Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon and Senegal.
Visual history
See also
*
List of hypermarkets
This is a list of hypermarket chains sorted alphabetically by continent and country. A hypermarket is a superstore carrying a wide range of products under one roof, and may aim to allow customers to satisfy all their shopping needs in one trip ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geant
Groupe Casino
Hypermarkets of France
Retail companies established in 1970
Companies based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
French companies established in 1970
French brands