Monoprix S.A. () is a major French

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and th ...

chain with its headquarters in

Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine Clichy ( , ; sometimes unofficially Clichy-la-Garenne ) is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located on the Seine, from the centre of Paris. In 2017, it had a population of 61,070. Located in Clichy are the headqua ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, near

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. The company's stores combine food retailing with fashion, beauty and home products.

History

The company was founded in 1932 in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

Max Heilbronn Max Heilbronn dit Harrel, alias Hennequin, born in Paris on December 17, 1902 and died in Paris XVI on May 12, 1998, was a leader of the French Resistance and the creator of Monoprix single-price stores. Biography Education and early career Ma ...

, a son-in-law of Theophile Bader, the founder of

Galeries Lafayette The Galeries Lafayette () is an upmarket French department store chain, the biggest in Europe. Its flagship store is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris but it now operates in a number of other locations in France and ot ...

. In 1991, Monoprix acquired the Uniprix brand after

took over

Nouvelles Galeries Nouvelles ( wa, Novele) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Mons, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It was a municipality until the fusion of the Belgian municipalities The fusion of the Belgian municipalities ...

, the parent of Uniprix. In 1997, the chain merged with French retailer

Prisunic Prisunic (Société Française des Magasins à Prix Uniques) was a French variety store chain that closed in 2003. Its stores were generally located downtown. History The Prisunic stores were founded by Maurice Farhi Pierre Lanuionie, and Hen ...

, in a deal that saw

Casino Group Casino Group or Casino Guichard-Perrachon is a French mass-market retail group. It was founded on 2 August 1898 by Geoffroy Guichard under the corporate name Guichard-Perrachon & Co. Casino Group is the source of many innovations such as the ...

acquire a 21% stake in the merged company. In 2000, Galeries Lafayette, entered into an agreement to sell a 50% interest in Monoprix. Casino Group provided Galeries Lafayette with a put option to sell the remaining 50%. In 2012, after legal wrangling over the value of the put option, the shareholders of both firms agreed on a sale price of $1.6 billion (€1.2 billion). The , France's competition regulatory body, approved the transaction in 2013, with the condition that the merged group sell 58 stores. This allowed the deal to close, making Monoprix a wholly-owned subsidiary of Casino Group. In 2023, Monoprix's parent Casino announced that they have completed a deal to avoid bankruptcy. This restructuring procedure would allow for the company to cut high debt and improve recent losses to other rival supermarket corporations. In 2024, Casino USA filed for

Chapter 15 bankruptcy {{USBankruptcy Chapter 15, Title 11, United States Code United States bankruptcy code that deals with jurisdiction in certain bankruptcy cases. Under Chapter 15, a representative of a corporate bankruptcy proceeding outside the United States can ...

. Monoprix currently has more than 700 shops in total: most under the Monoprix brand, but also smaller Monop', Monop' Daily, Monop' Station, Monop' Beauty, and Naturalia formats. It has a presence in over 250 towns and cities in France and employs around 21,000 people.

Monoprix in Popular Culture

In 1966, in the song "Les Élucubrations d'Antoine", the singer

Antoine Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guian ...

sings the lyrics "Put the pill on sale in the Monoprix." In 1979,

Alain Bashung Alain Bashung (, born Alain Claude Baschung; 1 December 1947 – 14 March 2009) was a French singer, songwriter and actor. Credited with reviving the French chanson in "a time of French musical turmoil", he is often regarded in his home country a ...

performed "Y'a un yeti", whose lyrics, written by Boris Bergman, included: "Y'a un yeti dans l'Monoprix". In the Sparks song "You Were Meant For Me" from 2023, the narrator becomes attracted to a fellow shopper: "At the Monoprix, you stood out so to me". In Michel Houellebecq's book " The Elementary Particles", the line "He ate a Monoprix TV dinner--monkfish in parsley sauce" appears.

References

External links

monoprix.fr
{{Authority control Groupe Casino Supermarkets of France Retail companies established in 1932 French brands French companies established in 1932 Companies that have filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy Companies in the Tunindex

History

Monoprix in Popular Culture

See also

References

External links