300,000 Retail Trade Outlets

At the end of 2017, France had 300,000 retail trade outlets, a third of which were food retailers. They generated an average revenue of 1.2 million euros, with a sales area of 240m². A third of the total turnover was generated by 1% of outlets, the majority of which were hyper and supermarkets.

Specialised food and medical stores were closer to the population than household goods stores.

With 73 million square metres of retail space for a population of 67 million, France’s commercial density in 2017 was 1.09m² per inhabitant.

In France, 45% of retail trade and commercial handicraft businesses (the latter covering specialist food traders and manufacturers) are affected by the ban on admitting customers following the decree of 23 March 2020 in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.