In which French town did Carrefour open the world’s first hypermarket in 1963?

Carrefour opened the world’s first hypermarket in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, France, in 1963.

The store combined a supermarket and a department store under one roof and offered a very large selling area, extensive parking and a wide selection of food and non-food goods. Carrefour’s founders, Marcel Fournier, Denis Defforey and Jacques Defforey, developed the format after earlier experiments with large self-service stores.

The location outside Paris was significant because it gave shoppers access to a broad range of products in one trip, while its setting suited customers arriving by car. This combination became a defining feature of the hypermarket model.

The word “hypermarket” is sometimes used loosely for any very large supermarket, but Carrefour’s 1963 store is widely identified as the first modern example. Carrefour later expanded the format internationally, while other retailers adapted it for their own markets.