Liberalisation Set To Revolutionise French Retailing

The new law would allow supermarkets of up to 1000sqm to open anywhere they wanted.

 Until now, petits commerçants – or small shop owners – have
been protected by a 1996 law that makes it difficult for supermarkets
to open stores bigger than 100 sqms.

This limit would be all but scrapped as part of a new law on
"modernising the economy", it also aims to increase
competition. A recent consumer group survey found that supermarket
prices in France are five per cent higher on average than elsewhere
in Europe, because individual stores enjoy quasi-monopoly status in
many parts of the country.