Auchan in The United States
Auchan previously had a subsidiary, Auchan U.S.A. It was the successor of interest to Texfield Inc. which did business as Auchan Hypermarket. As of 2002 Auchan was the only French hypermarket chain to still have a U.S. presence.
Auchan's first U.S. store opened in western Houston in 1988. 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. David Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle said "it was fairly unusual and became something of a tourist attraction" when it had first opened.
Auchan also opened a store in Greater Chicago in 1989. The store was a large hypermarket in the suburb of Bridgeview, Illinois. It only sold food, and it was not as large as the stores that were in Houston. In 1991 the store closed. It was later bought by a local Chicago chain, Dominick's supermarkets, and converted into an Omni Superstore by 1991.
Auchan's second Greater Houston location opened in southeast Houston in September 2000. 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." 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. 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. Kaplan said that by 2003, "the Houston market is saturated with huge discounters and large grocery stores." 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. 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.
Read more about this topic: Auchan, Auchan Around The World
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