Private company

Docks de France

French retail company

The Docks de France group is a former French distributor, bought in 1996 by Auchan.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1904Founded1

The Docks de France group is a former French distributor, bought in 1996 by Auchan.2

Corporate structure

Docks de France sits at the top of its group. 2 entities, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

1904: Toulouse and Picard creates the Central Docks Company in Tours, France

1957: Docks de France settles in the Paris region

1963: The first French hypermarket opens its doors

1966: Docks de France opens its first hypermarket under the brand SuperSuma

1964 - 1993 Docks de France buys several regional companies

1968: Creation of the subsidiary Sabeco in Spain

1969: Creation of the Mammouth hypermarkets

1978: Creation of the Lil' Champ Food Stores in the SE United States

Read the full text

1979: Acquisition of the Picardy Beehive

1982: Creation of 'Atac

1986: Creation of the Super Pakbo warehouse stores

1987: Acquisition of Économats du Centre

1991: Shut down of Super Pakbo

1993: Acquisition of the Alsatian Supermarkets Company

1995: Equity in a distribution company in Poland

1996: Auchan Group takeover of Docks de France

1997: Lil' Champ Food Stores sold to The Pantry

1998: The Distribution companies: 'Société de Distribution de l'Ouest', 'Société de Distribution du Centre', 'Société de Distribution Alsacienne', 'Société Lyonnaise de Distribution' and 'Société de Distribution la Ruche Picarde' merged with the 'Société de Distribution Parisienne' under the name Atac.

1999: Reorganisation of the Auchan group

The hypermarkets Auchan and Mammouth amalgamate under the name of Auchan

supermarkets and shops of Atac and Eco Service merge with the name of Atac

2005: Atac supermarkets rebrand as Simply Market

From Wikipedia’s article on Docks de France, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1904Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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