Carrefour to accelerate pace of new store openings in China in 2012, according to source; company reportedly will open 30 stores in China this year, versus the 20-25 it has opened in previous years

Cindy Allen

LOS ANGELES , January 17, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – According to an anonymous source with hypermarket chain Carrefour SA’s Chinese operations, Carrefour is planning to accelerate the pace of new store openings in China during this upcoming year, China Business News reported Jan. 17.

Instead of opening 20-25 new stores in China as it has been for the past several years, there will be 30 new Carrefour store openings this year in China, said the source.

The source added that China, which is the fastest-growing market, provides the largest amount of potential for Carrefour’s operations.

Globally, Carrefour reduced operations in 2010 due to declining profitability. The French chain either shut or sold retail centers in Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the Chinese city Xi'an.

According to linkshop.com, there were 203 Carrefour supermarkets scattered throughout mainland China as of Dec. 31.

The primary source of this article is China Business News, Beijing, China, on Jan. 17, 2012.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.