List of supermarkets in France: 11,800 in operation

Is there an official list of supermarkets in France?#

A supermarket is a self-service store where food makes up more than 65% of revenue, on a sales floor of 400 to 2,500 m². It usually carries the banner of a large group or of a buying group of store owners. From 2,500 m², it is a hypermarket.

Insee (France's statistics office) does not classify these stores by enseigne (the storefront banner), but by format: in the register, a supermarket carries the NAF code 47.11D (the French activity classification code), a hypermarket code 47.11F.

So the list of supermarkets in France is not a list of brands. It is the set of active locations that Insee's Sirene directory (the database that records companies and their locations) files among supermarkets, under code 47.11D. Their number depends on the date you query the database.

In the file as of September 1, 2026, this set has 14,286 locations, 306 of them overseas. It can be downloaded for free on data.gouv.fr: it is the Sirene directory's file of locations, to be filtered on code 47.11D and the "active" status. For each row it gives the SIRET number (the French ID of a business location), the address, the creation date, the headcount bracket and, when the company has declared it, the banner.

Once duplicate addresses, places with no sign of a store and Action stores, which are mostly non-food, are removed, the list holds about 11,800 supermarkets in operation (the step-by-step calculation).

The figures most often repeated online contradict each other, and most do not give their date. Among the first pages that answer this search, two directories and a paid file claim 17,327, 49,537 and 94,993 supermarkets. They do not say how many stores of 400 to 2,500 m² are open today.

Scalon measured what the official list really contains by matching each location to its banner: 3,172 chain supermarkets, 3,541 discounters, 4,051 convenience stores and 2,903 locations with no recognized banner (the breakdown, format by format).

Supermarket, hypermarket, multi-store: three store formats#

The NAF rev. 2 nomenclature (Insee's grid that classifies every economic activity) divides large food retail by two criteria. The first is sales floor area. The second is the share of food in revenue.

Three formats cover the large stores:

• Supermarket: self-service store of 400 to 2,500 m² where food makes up more than 65% of sales; code 47.11D in the register.

• Hypermarket: large store of 2,500 m² or more, mostly food; code 47.11F.

• Multi-store retailer: same floor area as a supermarket, but food makes up less than 65% of sales; code 47.11E.

The 2,500 m² threshold separates the supermarket from the hypermarket. The 65% threshold separates the supermarket from the multi-store retailer.

A list that mixes these formats therefore adds up stores that Insee files in different boxes.

Source: Sirene directory file of locations, Insee, as of September 1, 2026; NAF rev. 2 to NAF 2025 correspondence table from Insee, published in October 2026.

These codes are about to change. From January 1, 2027, NAF 2025 replaces NAF rev. 2 for assigning APE codes. In its correspondence table, Insee puts supermarkets (47.11D) and multi-store retailers (47.11E) under a single code, 47.11J, and hypermarkets under 47.11K. The register already carries this future code: 13,968 of the 14,286 active supermarkets have it as 47.11J. A count made after January 1, 2027 will therefore query 47.11J, where the 65% food distinction disappears.

A 2,000 m² store is not always a supermarket#

Take two 2,000 m² stores on the same street. The first makes most of its sales in food: it is 47.11D. The second sells mostly non-food: it is 47.11E.

At equal floor area, everything depends on the food share. The APE code (the main-activity code that Insee assigns to every location) describes a statistical classification, not a commercial reality.

Two consequences for anyone who wants to count:

• a count by code measures the classification Insee gave a location, not its actual size;

• the banner appears in no code. An independent supermarket with no banner and a store of a large group carry the same 47.11D.

The register shows it both ways. The 236 Action stores, a discount banner that is mostly non-food, are classified 47.11D, like supermarkets. Conversely, code 47.11E for multi-store retailers has only 200 locations, 102 of them Monoprix. And 1,288 Carrefour City stores, which Carrefour counts among its convenience stores, share the code of the Carrefour Market stores.

To learn how to read it for a given location, here is how to find the NAF code of a food store.

What the number counts: active locations, on a given date#

A serious count of supermarkets fits in one line of scope. Source: Insee's Sirene directory. Unit: the location, not the company. Filter: active administrative status. Categories kept: supermarkets (47.11D), with or without hypermarkets (47.11F). Date: the edition date of the database.

For this page, the line reads: Sirene directory, active locations in 47.11D, file as of September 1, 2026, 14,286 locations (16,367 with the 47.11F hypermarkets). After January 1, 2027, the code to query will be 47.11J.

Every element of this line changes the result.

Location or company. A location is a place of activity, identified by its SIRET. A company, identified by its SIREN number (the French company ID, nine digits), can have hundreds. A banner that runs three hundred stores counts as three hundred locations.

The 14,286 supermarkets in the register belong to 8,985 companies. The largest has 1,652: it is Lidl.

Active or closed. A closed location drops out of the count. A banner that has disappeared no longer appears, even if its former stores live on in people's memories.

The register still lags behind reality on the ground. When a store changes operator, the new one gets a SIRET, and the old one is not always closed in time. We found 981 addresses that carry at least two active supermarkets: the 14,286 locations occupy 13,078 places. Example: the company A+Super has 151 active locations in 47.11D, with no declared banner; 85 share an address with a location of Auchan Supermarché that is still open.

The date. The Sirene database changes with every opening and closure. A number with no edition date compares to nothing.

Between the May 1, 2026 file and the September 1, 2026 file, the total went from 14,231 to 14,286 active locations in 47.11D: 565 appeared (creations, reopenings or code changes) and 510 left (closures or code changes).

What remains is the difference between a count and a list. A count says how many supermarkets are open: it is a market study. A list of locations says which ones, with their address: it is a working base.

For a founder who sells to food stores, the count measures the addressable market and the list is used to prospect it.

The code says nothing about what you only see in the store: deli counter, curbside pickup, extended hours. For these signals, the Sirene row is not enough.

The Observatory's sector counts follow this method: a written scope, an official source, an edition date.

What the list really contains: format by format#

The register does not say which banner is a supermarket. So Scalon matched each of the 14,286 locations to its banner: the one it declares in the register, otherwise the name of its public business listing, otherwise the company name. Then each banner was filed under the format its own network gives it: Carrefour classifies Carrefour City, Express and Contact among its convenience stores, and Carrefour Market among its supermarkets.

Source: Sirene directory, as of September 1, 2026; banners and formats matched by Scalon (method at the end of the page). Distinct places: active locations at the same address counted once.

In practice: of 100 locations that Insee classifies as supermarkets, 22 are chain supermarkets, 25 are discounters and 28 are convenience stores.

Conversely, 492 locations of supermarket banners (Intermarché, Super U, Auchan…) are classified as hypermarkets (47.11F). To target all chain supermarkets, you therefore need to filter 47.11D and 47.11F.

The 2,903 locations with no recognized banner run from a grocery store that is still open to an empty row. 439 have an open public listing, most often classed as a supermarket. 1,011 have only a professional directory or public register listing. 8 have only a closed public listing. And 1,445 have no public listing at all: 1,119 are the headquarters of their company, 1,041 have no known headcount and 471 were created since 2024. Nothing shows an open store behind these locations.

From the register to the number of supermarkets in operation, the calculation takes three steps:

Source: Sirene directory, as of September 1, 2026; public listings and business directories matched by Scalon on November 6, 2026.

Our estimate: about 11,800 supermarkets in operation among the stores the register classifies as supermarkets, between 10,780 and 11,973. The low end also removes the 980 places with no banner known only from a business directory or a public register; the high end keeps the Action stores.

The most-cited public figure does not count the same thing. The Fédération du commerce et de la distribution (FCD) counted 5,875 supermarkets in 2023 and 3,435 "private-label-dominated" supermarkets, that is, discounters, for 9,310 stores, and separately "about 20,000 convenience stores." In the register, once duplicate addresses are grouped, 6,371 places carry a supermarket or discount banner, and 2,516 have no recognized banner.

Market structure: chains, franchises, buying groups, independents#

Five groups hold 9,648 of the 14,286 locations classified as supermarkets, or 67.5%. Carrefour's banners alone cover 3 in 10, mostly convenience stores (3,061 of its 4,244 locations).

Source: Sirene directory, as of September 1, 2026; groups based on each group's public documents (sources at the end of the page). E.Leclerc weighs little here because its stores are mostly classified as hypermarkets (47.11F). Auchan announced that its supermarkets would move to Intermarché or Netto franchises, under the company A+Super, starting October 1, 2026: in the September file, the two operators often coexist at the same address.

A group is not a single decision maker. For anyone who sells to supermarkets, the real question is: who signs? The network's model answers it, and the market splits into four families:

• Integrated chains, where every store is a branch of the group: Lidl and Aldi, 3,096 locations. All Lidl stores and 1,437 of the 1,444 Aldi stores belong to companies with 50 stores or more; decisions are made at headquarters.
• Franchise networks, where a store owner runs the banner under contract: Carrefour first, 4,244 locations in the register, mostly franchised. It reports 810 franchisees across its 1,167 supermarkets at the end of 2025 (69%) and 4,832 across its 5,084 convenience stores. In the register, 679 of the 1,112 Carrefour Market and Match stores (61%) and 1,040 of the 1,288 Carrefour City stores (81%) have a single-store operator; the two measures do not count the same thing, since a franchisee can run several stores.
• Buying groups of store owners, where each owner holds the store but buys and sells under the shared banner: Mousquetaires (Intermarché, Netto), Coopérative U (Super U, U Express…) and E.Leclerc, 2,435 locations. 1,329 of the 1,364 Intermarché stores (97%) and 201 of the 273 Super U stores (74%) have a single-store operator. The Groupement Mousquetaires says its banners are "exclusivement gérées par des chefs d'entreprise indépendants et solidaires" (run exclusively by independent business owners who stand together), Coopérative U presents itself as a group of independent store owners and the Mouvement E.Leclerc speaks of its "adhérents indépendants" (independent members); for a supplier, these stores remain tied to their banner.
• Independents with no banner, outside any chain, franchise or buying group: 1,411 places at most out of the 11,760 supermarkets in operation (12%), 431 of them with an open public listing. This is a ceiling: a few belong to networks missing from our banner list. The other 10,349 places in operation, 88%, carry a recognized banner.

The other networks (Casino, Auchan, A+Super, Action and smaller networks) account for 1,608 locations. In the register, 8,352 of the 14,286 locations are the only food store of their company, whether member-owners, franchisees or stores with no banner.

How big are the accounts: employees and revenue#

Of the 9,592 locations whose headcount the register knows, six in ten (5,797) employ between 10 and 49 people.

Source: Sirene directory, as of September 1, 2026, headcount bracket of the location (year 2023 for the rows that are filled in).

Revenue is read at the company level, not the store level. For single-store companies, the two almost coincide: it is the supermarket's revenue, plus any side activities. 3,071 of these 8,352 companies publish revenue for a fiscal year closed since 2022. The typical store makes about €8.8 million: half make more, half less.

Source: published annual accounts, latest fiscal year closed since 2022; confidential or zero accounts excluded. Typical store: half of the published accounts are above, half below.

In practice: the typical Super U, run by its member-owner, makes as much as nearly 18 Carrefour Express stores. For a supplier, these call for two different sales approaches.

Where the supermarkets are: regions and departments#

France has 20.9 register supermarkets per 100,000 residents. Île-de-France has 2,709 of them, or 19%. Paris has 884, twice the per-capita average: 533 of them, six in ten, are chain convenience stores.

Pays de la Loire has the fewest in mainland France (14.4 per 100,000 residents), with Loire-Atlantique (13.0) and Vendée (13.2). The region does, however, have 4.3 hypermarkets (47.11F) per 100,000 residents, against 3.1 in France: a region with few supermarkets in the register is not necessarily short of large stores.

How do you use this list to sell to supermarkets?#

Size your market. The right number depends on who buys. An offer for chain stores starts from the 6,713 chain supermarkets and discounters, 6,371 places once duplicates are removed. An offer sold to the store owner targets buying-group members, franchisees and independents with no banner (1,411 places at most). An offer sold to headquarters targets the 4,653 stores of companies with 50 stores or more, led by Lidl and Aldi.

Prioritize by account size. The typical store run by a single-store company has about €8.8 million in sales, the typical Carrefour Express €1.2 million. The banner's format sorts accounts before any other criterion.

Reach the stores. The register gives neither phone numbers nor websites, and no banner for 4,311 locations, nearly a third. Scalon linked each location to public business listings and professional directories: 78.6% of the register's supermarkets (11,224) have at least one linked public listing, and 73.4% (10,493) a public phone number.

Build the file. A prospect list of supermarkets is built in three sorts. First the format, so you do not mix a Carrefour City with a Super U. Then the network's model, which tells you who signs: branch, franchise, buying group or independent with no banner. In the Sirene file, a company that runs only one store usually signals a franchisee, a member-owner or an independent; fifty stores or more, a branch. Finally the duplicate addresses, which number 981 in the September register: keep the most recent location.

To go further, here is how to build a B2B prospect list from these rows, and what the Sirene database contains field by field.

Frequently asked questions#

How many supermarkets are there in France?#

About 11,800 in operation on September 1, 2026 (between 10,780 and 11,973), out of 14,286 active locations classified as supermarkets (47.11D) in the Sirene register. Of these, 6,713 are chain supermarkets or discounters, and 4,051 are convenience stores. The FCD counted 9,310 supermarkets and discounters in 2023.

How many supermarkets are independent?#

In retail terms, an independent supermarket belongs to no chain, franchise or buying group. Of the 11,760 supermarkets in operation, at most 1,411 have no recognized banner; 431 of them have an open public listing. Intermarché or Super U members own their store but buy under their group's banner: they are not counted as independents.

What is the difference between a supermarket and a hypermarket?#

Sales floor area. Insee classifies a mostly-food store of 400 to 2,500 m² as a supermarket (47.11D), and a store of 2,500 m² or more as a hypermarket (47.11F). The register counts 2,081 active hypermarkets, 492 of them under supermarket banners.

What is the difference between a supermarket and a small supermarket?#

Floor area again: a small supermarket (47.11C) is 120 to 400 m². The register counts 6,932. Neighborhood stores of national banners, such as Carrefour City, are nonetheless classified 47.11D.

Which banner has the most supermarkets in France?#

In the register, Lidl: 1,652 locations under a single company, ahead of Aldi (1,444) and Intermarché (1,364). By group, Carrefour comes first with 4,244 locations, 3,061 of them convenience stores.

Where can you download the list of supermarkets?#

The Sirene directory's file of locations can be downloaded for free on data.gouv.fr. Filter on code 47.11D, and 47.11F if you also target chain supermarkets classified as hypermarkets, then the active status. It gives neither phone numbers nor banner format: those fields come from public listings and from a matching like the one on this page.

Method#

The number of supermarkets comes from the file of locations in Insee's Sirene directory as of September 1, 2026: 14,286 locations with active status whose main activity is 47.11D. We linked each one, by its SIRET number, to the public business listings and professional directories gathered in the Scalon graph, read on November 6, 2026.

Cite this study#

Sources#

• Sous-classe 47.11D, Supermarchés, NAF rév. 2, Insee
• Sous-classe 47.11E, Magasins multi-commerces, NAF rév. 2, Insee
• Sous-classe 47.11F, Hypermarchés, NAF rév. 2, Insee
• Vers une nouvelle nomenclature : la NAF 2025, Insee
• Table de correspondance NAF rév. 2 – NAF 2025, Insee (éditée en octobre 2026)
• Base Sirene des entreprises et de leurs établissements, Insee, data.gouv.fr
• Populations de référence 2023, Insee
• Le commerce et la distribution, Fédération du commerce et de la distribution
• Document d'enregistrement universel 2025, Carrefour
• Universal Registration Document 2025, Carrefour (version anglaise, détail intégrés et franchisés)
• Nos enseignes, Groupement Mousquetaires
• Mouvement E.Leclerc, page d'accueil (1er avril 2025)
• Rapport de développement durable 2025, Coopérative U
• Rapport financier semestriel au 30 juin 2025, groupe Casino
• Document d'enregistrement universel 2024, groupe Casino
• Auchan finalise la transformation de son réseau de supermarchés français, Auchan Retail, 24 septembre 2026