Carrefour, a French retail chain, is considering exiting the Romanian market, informs L’Informe.
Not only would it leave Romania, but also Poland and Argentina.
Carrefour has hired JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and BNP Paribas to evaluate interest level.
Just in July, Carrefour left Italy.
But Romanians will likely be sorry to see it go, given that Romania is currently the fourth largest European market by sales for the retailer after France itself, Spain, and Belgium.
Carrefour’s sales in Romania neared EUR 2.3 billion after the first nine months of 2025, but growth slowed sharply in the third quarter — likely due to Romania’s enormous inflation.
Not only does Carrefour have almost 500 stores its Romania, but also over 17,000 employees.
What is really motivating this? Probably the fact that Carrefour paid an increase of over 20% compared to 2023 in taxes to the Romanian state: that’s EUR 200 million.
If Carrefour goes, Bringo, another major employmer, may go with it, and so Romanian satisfaction with lifestyle, already among the lowest in Europe, is likely to drop further.
