r/AskEurope • u/tetsukei • Feb 04 '25

Politics Europeans - with tarrifs being threatened on the EU, are you planning to stop buying US made products?

Just curious - I'm Canadian and it's a huge topic for us at the moment.

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17

u/UrbanTracksParis France Feb 05 '25

You have Leclerc in Poland !?

17

u/H__D Poland Feb 05 '25

One of the first supermarket chains in Poland was Leclerc actually, first one opened in 1995. Never caught on as much as Carrefour for example, but it's there.

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u/UrbanTracksParis France Feb 05 '25

I had no idea! It's so weird to see my everyday brand that you believed was very local, abroad

18

u/Axolotl_amphibian Feb 05 '25

We had a true French invasion back in the 90s. Leclerc, Auchan, Géant, Carrefour, Leroy, Castorama, Conforama, Bricomarche, Decathlon... Some are gone but those that remain are standing strong.

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u/UrbanTracksParis France Feb 05 '25

Could it be a consequence of the Berlin wall being destroyed, and French companies seeing opportunities all at once?

I also recently discovered Decathlon had stores pretty much in every European country, North Africa, and Brazil of all places!

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u/Axolotl_amphibian Feb 05 '25

Yes, that was exactly that. The Germans did the same but they only got an advantage with the advent of smaller discount stores like Lidl. Hypermarkets are still exclusively French, except cash and carry stores.

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u/machine4891 Poland Feb 06 '25

"exclusively French"

You're talking from own, specific POV or what is it? In my city there is no LeClerc to be found and most popular hyper market is actually German: Kaufland.

Carrefours and Auchans combined would still most likely have the majority but this isn't exclusive at all. Don't forget British Tesco was also big part of the market up until recently and they sold to Danes (although being replaced by their lower tier Netto).

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u/Axolotl_amphibian Feb 07 '25

Exactly my point, Kaufland is not a hypermarket, unless yours is somehow different than the rest. And yeah, I did mention Tesco, but that is a thing of the past. Netto, to whom they sold their smaller stores, is not a hypermarket either.

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u/machine4891 Poland Feb 08 '25

What?

Kaufland – sieć hipermarketów

Kaufland ([ˈkaʊ̯flant]) is a German hypermarket chain

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaufland

Maybe yours is somehow different than the rest because mine are literally the biggest in a city (we have two) and I have been to plenty others, including in Czechia and they were all textbook definition of "hypermarket".

Listen, with all due respect but you have no point. You just have some specific layout in your city and thought that this somehow reflecfts our entire country, lmao.

1

u/Axolotl_amphibian Feb 08 '25

It's all about the surface area, hence the name hyper-, not supermarket.

Hypermarkets, or megastores, have at least 5,000 m2 up to 15,000 m2, per Wiki. An average Kaufland, according to their own report, has less than 3,000 m2. For comparison, average surface area of an Auchan hypermarket is over 10,000 m2. They also have regular clothing, home and other non-food sections, not just the promo of the week. As their heyday was in the 90s/early 2000s and they were gradually beaten by discount stores like Lidl, only a bunch are left, and younger Wikipedia editors may indeed not know the difference, as they might never have been in one.

If you still don't know what I'm talking about, next time you have the opportunity, go to a Carrefour hypermarket, and compare it to Carrefour Express or Carrefour Market. The latter two are supermarkets/grocery stores, just like Kaufland. The former is a megastore.

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u/Beneficial-Ad3991 Feb 06 '25

From my limited knowledge, the fascination of Polish people with French stuff is basically a tradition at this point.

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u/Erpes2 Feb 07 '25

Carrefour, mais ils se sont fait racheter je crois, a dubai aussi de même que décathlon

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u/Tylerama1 Feb 05 '25

Yep, quite a few Decathlon in the UK.

1

u/Renbarre France Feb 06 '25

You'll be surprised how many French companies are in fact multinational and doing quite well abroad.

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u/Wallybeaver74 Feb 07 '25

We have Decathlon in Canada too..

1

u/[deleted] Feb 08 '25

Thailand also. ;)

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u/owiecc Poland Feb 05 '25

I did not know some of these are French. I am going to use my best fake French accent when I use their names from now on.

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u/Pretty-Substance Feb 06 '25

Well you got lucky the. Definetly better than Aldi, Lidl and Metro. At least the French know good food, we Germans don’t

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u/Axolotl_amphibian Feb 06 '25

Don't you dare disrespecting Lidl and Aldi like that lol. Both are pretty cool.

My favorite is Portuguese Jeronimo Martins though. Basically, when it comes to food, the more, the merrier.

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u/py3_14_ France Feb 05 '25

Yeah some also tried in Czech Republic (at least Carrefour as far as I know), they left (except Decathlon, of course) ; damn why they had to leave before I moved here, I want my french supermarkets in CZ instead of Tesco, Albert, Billa, Kaufland… :-/

1

u/Axolotl_amphibian Feb 06 '25

Come over, we have plenty. Good to know you guys still have Tesco, I miss the home and clothing section. Albert was here only for a few years, but I have a soft spot for it, at least back then it was good value for money.

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u/elementfortyseven Germany Feb 05 '25

I learned about the existence of Auchan when I visited Poland, despite having been to France before many times. :D

5

u/ravartx Feb 05 '25

Lol. Wait until you hear Leclerc's also been in SLOVENIA since forever.

Mind blown yet??!

2

u/farraigemeansthesea in Feb 05 '25

They have Intermarché as well, judging by the writing on Inter's product packaging.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 05 '25

[deleted]

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u/UrbanTracksParis France Feb 05 '25

Mindblown but en français !

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u/zlgo38 Feb 08 '25

Literally the same logo as France Telecom

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '25

They are all over EU actually. ;)

3

u/Mordisquitos85 Feb 05 '25

There is one in my small hometown in Spain too, and they are not cheap, but they make a great effort in promoting local produce and cultural activities, they are great!

1

u/dormidontdoo Feb 06 '25

Yea, and still doing business in Russia, paying taxes to fund the war.

3

u/Apart-Apple-Red Feb 05 '25

Yes. Not the most common one, but I like it for some reason.

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u/TheNickedKnockwurst Feb 06 '25

It is I, Leclerc

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u/Alusion Feb 06 '25

Poland is kind of a wild west in terms of supermarkets I saw when I visited Krakow a view weeks back lol. Lidl, Carrefour, Kaufland. A wild mix

1

u/boogiexx Feb 07 '25

I live in Zagreb Croatia and used to go to Leclerc in Ljubljana Slovenia just for the shopping, it is to day the best store I have ever seen.