Relay is a chain of newspaper, magazine, book, and
convenience store
A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...
s, mostly based in train stations and airports. It is owned by Lagardère Travel Retail, a subsidiary of
Lagardère Group
Lagardère S.A. () is an international group with operations in over 40 countries. Based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, the group was founded and created in 1992 by Jean-Luc Lagardère under the name Matra, Hachette & Lagardère.
Headed ...
.
Its heaviest concentration is in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, but it also operates in other countries. In 2010, the network had 1,100 shops on 4 continents.
History
Relay started under the name ''Relais H, when in 1852
Louis Hachette acquired the "trainstations' libraries". The sales of newspapers quickly overperformed the sales of books. To keep books' sales up, Relais H innovated by creating book series and asking specific authors to write those series.
In January 2000, the stores ''Relais H'' became ''Relay''. At that time, Relay owned 1,000 stores in 10 countries in Europe and North America.
In October 2012, Lagardere TR created a joint-venture with Indian Travel Food Services to develop Relay in India.
In February 2016, Lagardere sold its Travel Retail operations in Belgium to the
Bpost
Bpost (stylised ''bpost''), also known as the Belgian Post Group, is the Belgian company responsible for the delivery of mail in Belgium. The Belgian Post Group is one of the largest civilian employers in Belgium. It provides a range of postal ...
group for $491 million.
See also
*
Relay (disambiguation)
A relay is an electric switch operated by a signal in one circuit to control another circuit.
Relay may also refer to:
Electrical engineering
* Protective relay, a device designed to trip a circuit breaker when a fault is detected.
Historical
* ...
References
External links
www.relay.comOfficial website
Lagardère Group
Retail companies established in 1852
Retail companies of France
French companies established in 1852
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