Out of a total of 9,000 stores, Carrefour had more than 5,000 convenience stores, mainly held by franchisees. The franchisees benefit from everything the banner has to offer, including customer-targeted concepts, products providing the best value for the money, and services and operating staff dedicated to sharing their expertise.

In order to meet the changes in society, especially the appeal of town centres, Carrefour is reinventing the range on offer at its local stores, while putting the emphasis on the Carrefour brand, as it is doing for its other formats. The Group is deploying its convenience format under the banner of Carrefour express, uniting the many historical banners. Thus, in Greece, the 5’ Marinopoulos integrated and franchised stores are being progressively brought under the Carrefour express banner, in the same way as the 5 Minut stores in Poland. The first stores are opening their doors in Argentina and Spain, and there is a major transformation of the store base in Italy, with 689 Di per Di stores converted to Carrefour express by the end of 2010.

In France, the Group is continuing with the transformation of the store base, on the one hand Carrefour city, which meets the needs of our urban customers who are often in a rush, with its range of ready-to-eat products, the designer ambiance, and extended opening hours; and on the other hand, Carrefour contact in the smaller towns and villages with their offer focused on essential goods, from self-service fresh produce to the butcher and cheese counters, and everyday non-food products. As of the end of 2010, 409 local stores were flying their Carrefour city and Carrefour contact banners, with an average increase in turnover of 28% and 16% respectively, after transfor- mation. A success story which has given a boost to Carrefour’s ambition to have 800 stores converted to these banners by the end of 2011.

There is more to see about convenience. Faced with the diversity of the profiles and expectations of the clien- tele in France, Carrefour is reinforcing and develop- ing new convenience banners. So, in order to make life easier for customers in mountain resorts, Carrefour montagne offers a selection of fresh produce, local products, and a full range of services seven days a week. Successfully tested in three pilot stores in 2009, the concept was deployed in the winter of 2010 in four resorts in the Alps and in the Pyrenees. In order to supply busy consumers in a hurry, Carrefour has also been testing two new concepts for city centres: Carrefour city café offers food to eat in or to take away, from breakfast to dinner, an innovation tested in a preview in the centre of Bordeaux; Carrefour express is also inaugurating shopping on the run with a selection of 3,500 references over 100 sq. m and 250 sq. m, on test in Caen, Poitiers, and Paris.