Food retailing in Europe | The Germans are coming

Economist.com:

"Food retailing in Europe
The Germans are coming

Aug 14th 2008 | PARIS
From The Economist print edition
Germany’s “hard discount” model of supermarket retailing is spreading in Europe

IT IS as far from the charming ideal of French farmers’ markets and small family-owned shops as you could imagine: strip lights glare down on a narrow range of products in ugly packaging, displayed in cardboard boxes piled on the floor and on low shelves. But sales are booming at the new Lidl discount supermarket in south-west Paris. Previously, the German chain stuck to the suburbs, where poorer folk live, says Fatouh Mourad, the store’s manager. But rising food prices and widespread concern about “pouvoir d’achat”, or purchasing power, in France, has given Lidl the confidence to push inside the city’s limits."