The most aggressive expansion was made by French Carrefour retailer, which inaugurated as much as four hypermarkets in the first six months of 2008. The hypermarket chain currently has 15 units in , with investments worth €80 million. Furthermore, the company refurbished nine of the 21 Artima supermarkets it took over last year. The nine units were rebranded as Carrefour Express.
On the discount retail segment, the strongest expansion was registered by Plus Discount, with five new stores by the end of June and a further three inaugurated in July. The company invested a total €87.5 mln in H1.
