Le Marché Bio E.Leclerc rolls ahead: Aurillac

Michel Edouard Leclerc, president of the eponymous French grocer E.Leclerc claimed recently that “le Bio” is growing 20-25% a year currently and perhaps for this reason alone, since its 2018 launch, Le Marché Bio E.Leclerc has been rolled out with some haste.

Organic is a hot button in France and this store, which opened in Aurillac in the central south Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the autumn of last year, is a well-developed example of E.Leclerc’s ‘Bio’ format and worth covering for no better reason than that it is a growth area.

As might be expected, the exterior of this 450 sq m store is wood-clad and the interior has a wooden frame, all built from sustainable and local forest stands.

Beauty, food, fresh and gluten-free, and a range of locally produced wines and beers comprise the eco-ethical side of things and much is made of the fact that ‘local’ means items produced within 80km of the store. On the beauty front, naturopaths are on hand to advise and a space has been set aside for workshops and ‘health’ tutorials.

There is also a ‘food court’, where shoppers can drink coffee or taste products bought on site, which makes much of the wooden environment. Further Le Marché Bio E.Leclercs are intended to appear, as dedicated spaces within the retailer’s hypermarkets and as standalones, during the course of 2020.

Source: Newstores by John Ryan