According to information confirmed during a works council meeting, 17 of the 91 supermarkets initially proposed for transfer to Intermarché will not be taken over for now. In total, Intermarché will not absorb 22 stores: three will be placed under lease-management arrangements, and two will ultimately remain within Auchan’s portfolio. The 17 stores left without a clear future are described as assets whose “future remains to be invented,” highlighting the difficult legacy left by the takeover of the Casino store network.
Most of the unresolved stores are located in the southern half of France, with 13 of the 17 in that region. All of them come from the former Casino network, underscoring how the integration of those outlets continues to weigh on the broader restructuring process. The stores involved are said to have very weak commercial performance, with average sales still below 3,300 euros per square meter in 2025, even after changing banners. This figure suggests that the rebranding has not been enough to materially improve their underlying results.
Two stores, however, stand out as exceptions and help lift the average somewhat: Forcalquier, at 6,400 euros per square meter, and Crest, at 5,700 euros per square meter. Even so, those stronger results remain insufficient to offset the poor overall performance of the group of outlets under review. The situation illustrates the broader challenge facing retailers trying to absorb and relaunch underperforming supermarkets inherited from the Casino estate.
The article points to a deeper structural problem: not all stores transferred in a deal are equally viable, and some locations may require entirely new solutions beyond a simple change of owner or brand. The fact that 17 stores remain in limbo after the transfer plan was announced shows that the restructuring is still incomplete and that decisions on several outlets have yet to be finalized. It also suggests that the process of sorting viable stores from nonviable ones will remain a central issue in the months ahead.
The pending fate of these supermarkets is therefore more than a simple corporate adjustment. It reflects the ongoing consequences of the Casino restructuring and the operational burden it has created for the buyers involved. While most stores in the proposed package will move forward under Intermarché or related arrangements, these 17 outlets remain a reminder that store transfers do not automatically solve profitability problems. Their future will depend on whether new operators, new business models, or other solutions can be found to restore commercial viability.
