Carrefour will not open the first French store of its discounter Atacadão in Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis), where the establishment of this Brazilian self-service wholesale brand is the subject of an outcry. "We are still studying different sites for the opening of the first Atacadão store in France, in accordance with the schedule we have set ourselves. The conditions are not met for this to be done in Sevran, but we are moving forward on several other tracks, in connection with the municipalities concerned, "said Saturday evening Carrefour, questioned by AFP on the sling of the city against this supermarket.

If Carrefour had not formalized the location of the first Atacadão, a "cash and carry" that it wants to develop in France, its representatives had met mid-January with the town hall of this popular city of 50,000 inhabitants and had indicated that Atacadão would replace in September their Carrefour hypermarket of the Beau Sevran shopping center, according to the account of the municipality.

A petition launched

This supermarket being the only traditional hypermarket in the municipality, which mainly has discount brands, local elected officials have stepped up to oppose the arrival of Atacadão. A petition "No to Atacadão", led in particular by the mayor DVG Stéphane Blanchet and the LFI deputy of the constituency Clémentine Autain, was launched by the city at the beginning of the month. Several towing operations were held in front of schools this week and again Saturday morning at the Sevran market.

"I am against a two-tier society, with consumption patterns for the rich on one side and for the poor on the other. I do not agree that Carrefour should consider abandoning the land to make way for warehouses, because ultimately we would not have the right to consume like any other city, "said in the morning to AFP the mayor.

Very popular in Brazil, Atacadão consists of a wide range of food and non-food products "at wholesale prices" sold directly on pallets, individually or in large packaging, for professionals and individuals. The CEO of Carrefour, Alexandre Bompard, himself announced in November the opening of a first Atacadão in Île-de-France for the "start of the 2023 school year", describing the implementation of the discounter as "a bet" but "probably the best anti-crisis solution".

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