retailing founded 1961 ; 55 years ago 1961 roubaix france founder g rard mulliez headquarters croix lille m tropole france number of locations 3 051 area served worldwide key people vianney mulliez chairman thierry mulliez vice chairman products discount store electronics specialty hypermarket supercenter supermarket superstore other specialty revenue 44.373 billion 2011 1 operating income 1.283 billion 2011 1 net income 857 million 2011 1 total assets 28.479 billion 2011 1 total equity 9.286 billion 2011 1 number of employees 269 000 2011 parent mulliez group website www.auchandirect.fr accueil groupe auchan sa french pronunciation o is a french international retail group and multinational corporation headquartered in croix france . 2 it is one of the world s principal distribution groups with a presence in 15 countries and 269 000 employees . the company began when g rard mulliez opened his first self service shop in roubaix in the district of hauts champs pronunciation is very similar to auchan . 3 auchan has branches in france and internationally in china hungary india iraq italy luxembourg poland portugal romania russia san marino spain taiwan and ukraine . as of 2011 update auchan had 639 hypermarkets and 2 412 supermarkets around the world . contents 1 mulliez family 2 slogan 3 auchan around the world 3.1 china 3.2 united states 4 own label product brands 5 divisions 6 withdrawn ventures 7 initial public offering 8 criticism 8.1 building collapse at savar 9 see also 10 references 11 external links mulliez family edit auchan sa is controlled by the mulliez family one of the wealthiest in france and in europe . the mulliez family has interests in a large number of companies decathlon sports stores not part of auchan group norauto car repairs not part of auchan group groupe adeo diy shops boulanger electronic devices shops phildar fabric stores accord bank loans kiabi clothes shops not part of auchan group cultura cultural products family not invested in it pimkie girls clothes slogan edit the slogan of the company was la vie la vraie which translates into english as life the real one . the slogan was changed in 2007 to la vie auchan elle change la vie auchan s lifestyle changes life itself . auchan around the world edit country first store hypermarkets supermarkets convenience stores shopping centres france 1961 126 8 268 141 108 spainx 1981 55 4 125 16 111 30 italy 1989 60 5 7 276 1 385 46 san marino 1989 5 luxembourg 1996 1 1 portugal 1996 33 9 poland 1996 26 53 27 20 hungary 1998 19 18 china 1999 230 45 taiwan 2001 18 22 russia 2002 68 13 130 25 romania 2006 33 ukraine 2008 11 8 india 2012 11 3 iraq 2014 1 senegal 2015 4 vietnam 2016 1 notes stores owned by franchise partners re branded formerly real hypermarkets 6 x branded alcampo in spain china edit auchan opened its first store in shanghai in 1999 and according to the auchan china investment co. ltd. official report in 2009 there are 114 stores opened nationwide in china . suzhou jinji lake store that is located in suzhou industrial park had nine million population during that fiscal year with over four hundred million turnover and became one of the biggest auchan hypermarket in the world . suzhou store expanded in 2008 and is the biggest auchan hypermarket in china second biggest in the world . also auchan china led to open its online shopping website for store in shanghai and suzhou . auchan offers online shopping only in those two cities so far and is opening in suzhou its first auchandrive store based on its french model click & go in may 2012 . the auchandrive service allows customers to purchase groceries online for home delivery these locations being examples of online supermarkets in china . united states edit auchan previously had a subsidiary auchan u.s.a. 7 it was the successor of interest to texfield inc. which did business as auchan hypermarket . 8 as of 2002 auchan was the only french hypermarket chain to still have a u.s. presence . 9 auchan s first u.s. store opened in western houston in 1988 . 10 the 250 000 square foot 23 000 m2 market was located on a 31.3 acre 12.7 ha plot of land on beltway 8 north of u.s. route 59 . the store was one of the first hypermarkets to open in the u.s. 7 david kaplan of the houston chronicle said it was fairly unusual and became something of a tourist attraction when it had first opened . 11 auchan also opened a store in greater chicago in 1989 . the store was a large hypermarket in the suburb of bridgeview illinois . 12 it only sold food and it was not as large as the stores that were in houston . in 1991 the store closed . 11 it was later bought by a local chicago chain dominick s supermarkets and converted into an omni superstore by 1991 . citation needed auchan s second greater houston location opened in southeast houston in september 2000 . 10 kaplan said auchan had solid business its first years but with only two stores in the country the company lacked buying power and economy of scale advantages . 11 in january 2003 auchan announced that both of its u.s. stores were making losses and were going to be closed ; auchan stated that it was instead going to concentrate its expansion in asia and europe . 10 auchan u.s.a. sold its first houston location to ho enterprises . lewis food town occupied about 110 000 square feet 10 000 m2 of the space with the rest of the space taken by other tenants . 7 kaplan said that by 2003 the houston market is saturated with huge discounters and large grocery stores . 11 in addition many similar stores including an h e b food and drug store the hong kong supermarket a sam s club and a wal mart supercenter had opened in proximity to the west houston auchan . in europe zoning laws would prevent such a high concentration of similar stores . kaplan further added that in europe shopping malls are not as prevalent as they are in america and auchan s everything under one roof concept has greater appeal in europe rather than in the united states . 11 the second former auchan remains unoccupied but was used as a shelter for hurricane katrina victims in 2005 and hurricane ike victims in 2008 due to its large space . citation needed 13 own label product brands edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message le moins cher translated the least expensive economy range similar to asda smartprice tesco value or sainsbury s basics in the uk . in portugal it s called polegar translated thumb up . les produits auchan translated auchan products own brand of products rik et rok products designed for children this is also a club for children les produits r gionaux translated the regional products regional products such as breton biscuits mmm gourmet auchan products . mieux vivre bio sans gluten translated live better organic without gluten auchan products that are either bio or without gluten . baby auchan products designed for babies . sabores de portugal translated flavours of portugal exclusive brand for regional portuguese products available only in portugal . kazhdyi den translated every day local economy brand in russia positioned as having the lowest even compared to other auchan brands price while meeting all quality standards . 14 same applies for ukraine while it is named kozhen den every day nasha sem ja translated our family local middle class brand in russia . 15 selecline for electrical appliances and electronics sold by auchan . qilive for electrical appliances electronics and some computer accessories sold by auchan divisions edit ikea s mega fedyakovo shopping mall outside nizhny novgorod russia featured with auchan the sign in the center of the building auchan in cesano boscone near milan italy the coquelles branch of auchan france auchan atac simply market auchan direct voyages auchan banque accord alin a a2pas . china auchan rt mart immochan accord consulting . hungary auchan immochan accord magyarorsz g. italy auchan ipersimply market simply market punto simply la bottega accord italia . luxembourg auchan immochan . poland auchan alma a tak immochan accord finance simply market . portugal jumbo p o de a car oney jumbo natureza immochan . romania auchan immochan accord intermed consumer finance . russia atak immochan ba finans . san marino simply market . spain alcampo sabeco simply market immochan accordfin . taiwan rt mart immochan . ukraine immochan oney . on the internet auchandirect.fr voyagesauchan withdrawn ventures edit auchan opened a number of stores in mexico ; the first of these opened in mexico city in 1997 and eventually grew to five stores . faced with stiff competition from wal mart as well as local superstore chains gigante and comercial mexicana and french rival carrefour who also sold their stores and left the country in march 2005 auchan decided to sell their stores to comercial mexicana and withdrew from mexico in early 2003 most of these stores were to soriana in 2015 . in 1997 auchan sold its hypermarkets in thailand to groupe casino . in 2007 auchan sold its argentine stores to wal mart and withdrew from the country . following a conflict with its moroccan partner ona auchan sold its 49 % share in august 2007 . in january 2011 auchan dropped out of the dubai market after just two years . 16 initial public offering edit sun art retail group ltd. the chinese hypermarket operator backed by auchan will go public in hong kong at 15 july 2011 with hope to raise about 1 billion . 17 criticism edit building collapse at savar edit main article 2013 savar building collapse on 24 april 2013 the eight story rana plaza commercial building collapsed in savar a sub district near dhaka the capital of bangladesh . at least 1 127 people died and over 2 438 were injured . 18 the factory housed a number of separate garment factories employing around 5 000 people several shops and a bank 19 and manufactured apparel for brands including the benetton group joe fresh 20 the children s place primark monsoon and dressbarn . 21 22 of the 29 brands identified as having sourced products from the rana plaza factories only 9 attended meetings held in november 2013 to agree a proposal on compensation to the victims . several companies refused to sign including walmart carrefour bonmarch mango auchan and kik . the agreement was signed by primark loblaw bonmarche and el corte ingles . 23 see also edit list of french companies list of hypermarkets france portal companies portal food portal references edit a b c d e financial report 2011 pdf . auchan group . retrieved 4 august 2012 . contact . auchan . retrieved on 24 october 2012 . groupe auchan 40 avenue de flandre bp 139 59964 croix cedex france c dric citrain a cap occitan on f te les 50 ans d auchan midi libre b zier edition 19 january 2011 p3 . catalogos alcampo . folletomania . retrieved 11 june 2015 . volantini auchan . centrovolantini . retrieved 24 february 2015 . iancu liviu 30 november 2012 . auchan a cump rat magazinele real din ece inclusiv cele din rom nia pentru 1 1 miliarde de euro in romanian . ziarul financiar . a b c wollam allison . food town to occupy portion of shuttered auchan hypermarket . houston business journal . sunday 8 june 2003 . modified on thursday 5 june 2003 . retrieved on 13 january 2011 .