Grand Frais is set to open supermarkets in Mersch and Wickrange to add to the store in Contern (pictured). (Photo: Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne/Archives)

Grand Frais is set to open supermarkets in Mersch and Wickrange to add to the store in Contern (pictured). (Photo: Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne/Archives)

Plans by Grand Frais to open new stores will enable the retailer to complete its network around the capital.

The second Grand Frais outlet in Luxembourg will open on Wednesday 23 November in Mersch, on rue de Colmar-Berg, next to the Burger King restaurant. The store will be located in a particularly dense shopping area, which already houses supermarket chains Aldi, Colruyt, Lidl and Match. Cactus also has a store just two kilometres away.

In Wickrange, Grand Frais will open its third Luxembourg outlet on 30 November on a site next to the Asport shop. Although commerce is much less dense here than in Mersch,  is being built opposite the future shop and it will focus on mobility, gastronomy and leisure, not to mention work and accommodation. The Foetz shopping area is only three kilometres from the site, visible from the A4 motorway.

Grand Frais currently has one outlet in Luxembourg, located in Contern, which opened on 18 March 2020 at the start of the first containment period. The company is also located in Terville in France and in Messancy across the border in Belgium.

Separate activities

Grand Frais was founded in 1992 in the suburbs of Lyon and has 285 outlets, mainly in France. Its concept is that of a covered market dedicated exclusively to the sale of food products. Under one roof the store houses  five food shops operated by as many companies.

In Luxembourg, each Grand Frais outlet forms an economic interest grouping (EIG) that houses the butchery, grocery, cheese and greengrocer activities. The Marie Blachère bakery chain is also part of this group. On average, each point of sale employs around thirty people spread over the five different companies.

According to business weekly Challenges, the parent company of the Prosol chain and its butcher branch Despi are worth more than €3bn. Its latest ranking of the largest fortunes in France places Denis Dumont (the founder of Prosol) and his family in 170th place, with an estimated fortune of €700m.

Voted France's favourite retailer in 2018, Grand Frais maintained its top ranking until 2021. Since the end of this year, the retailer has been launching an e-commerce platform, placedumarché.fr, created in collaboration with Toupargel, for frozen products. It offers 4,000 items delivered on two days' notice to 36,000 towns in France via a network of 700 delivery staff.

This article was originally published in and has been translated by Delano.