GIB Group (Grand Bazar Innovation Bon Marché) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

conglomerate, consisting of various retail and restaurant chains that existed until 2002. GIB Group owned GB (Grand Bazar) super/hypermarkets, Brico (home improvement/DIY), Inno (department store), Quick restaurants (Belgium, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg),

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self-service restaurants,

Auto 5 The Browning Automatic 5, most often Auto-5 or simply A-5, is a recoil-operated semi-automatic shotgun designed by John Browning. It was the first successful semi-automatic shotgun design, and remained in production until 1998. The name of the s ...

car wash/service chain, Nopri, GIB Immo, Christiaensen and

Unic Unic was a French manufacturer founded in 1905, and active as an automobile producer until July 1938. After this the company continued to produce commercial vehicles, retaining its independence for a further fourteen years before being purcha ...

History

In 1860, the GIB Group is created by opening the first ''Au Bon Marché'' store in Brussels by François Vaxelaire. In 1933, ''Nopri'' department stores were created. In 1958, the first ''Super GB'' supermarket is opened. In 1960, Baron François Vaxelaire (grandson of namesake) takes over the family business from his father, Raymond Vaxelaire. In 1961, the first GB hypermarkets are created under the name of ''Superbazar'' in

Auderghem Auderghem (former Dutch spelling, now used in French; pronounced ) or Oudergem () is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region ( Belgium). Located to the southeast of the region, along the Woluwe valley and at the entrance to ...

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as th ...

and

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Scienc ...

. The Superbazar stores all became ''Maxi GB'' in 1985. In 1969-74, Baron François Vaxelaire engineers a fusion of GB, Innovation and BM as GIB. Inno was a previously independent Belgian department store chain that was taken over (it's currently owned by Galeria Kaufhof). In 1997, the first ''GB Express'' is opened in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, in the same year, ''Super GB Partner'' and ''Contact GB'' are created. In July 2000, Carrefour Group S.A. takes over the ''GIB Group'', modernizes and rebrands all ''Maxi GB'' hypermarkets to ''Carrefour'', the other stores staying under the GB brand, all those stores will also be renovated. In 2002 Carrefour retires the ''GIB Group'' name of the holding subsidiary and sells the Brico chain to Vendex. In 2007, ''Super GB'', ''Super GB Partner'' and ''Contact GB'' supermarkets all become ''Carrefour GB'', while ''GB Express'' convenience stores are renamed '' Carrefour Express''. Two years later, ''Carrefour GB'' stores in Belgium are rebranded as ''Carrefour Market'', all GB stores will eventually be a Market store in Belgium in 2013/2014. In Wallonia and Brussels, the

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, ...

supermarket chain has also been rebranded, as ''Carrefour Market-Groupe Mestdagh''. As of May 2013, there were still 58 ''GB'' branded supermarkets left, as well as 28 ''Champion'' stores. The rest (around 431 GB stores) have completed the transition to "Carrefour" brand.

References

{{Authority control Defunct retail companies of Belgium 1860 establishments in Belgium Retail companies disestablished in 2002 2002 disestablishments in Belgium