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BUSINESS STRATEGY
First Carrefour supermarket opens in Democratic Republic of Congo
By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2025
Multinational French retail group is partnering with a DRC-based conglomerate, which is rebranding its stores.
Carrefour, the French-based supermarket giant, has opened its first store in the DRC in partnership with Hyper Psaro, a local company with wide-ranging business interests in the country.
Photo: Carrefour
Hyper Psaro operates six supermarkets in the cities of Kinshasa and Lubumbashi and, with time, all will be converted into Carrefour-branded outlets. The newly opened store is located in Kinshasa and offers consumers more than 6,300 stock-keeping units (SKUs) covering both food and non-food categories.
Hyper Psaro’s outlets have typically stocked products imported from the EU, South Africa, other African countries, the USA, Latin America and Asia. The fresh food sold in its stores is transported every week by plane from Europe.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has had no international supermarket brand since South Africa’s Shoprite group left the country in late 2022.
Carrefour is a major player in Africa
Carrefour has a strong presence in Africa, with more than 500 branded stores in various countries. These include Kenya, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Senegal and Egypt.
Hyper Psaro Group was founded in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1992 in Lubumbashi. Currently, it has offices in Lubumbashi and Kinshasa. It describes itself as a leader in the import and distribution of fuels and lubricants.
It is also active in the production, import and trade of goods and in restaurants and catering: Chicken Inn, Galito’s, Pizza Inn, Roco Mamas and Creamy Inn in Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Kolwezi. It employs around 3,000 people according to its website.
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