Starbucks has announced a licenced partnership agreement with upmarket French retail chain Monoprix, and will open cafés within Monoprix stores. The coffee giant‘s first two cafés will be in key locations: the Monoprix Beaugrenille in Paris and in the Monoprix GBL in Lyon, and are expected to be unveiled before the end of 2015.
For Starbucks France is a somewhat untapped market. Its presence in the country represents a small fraction of its 2,200 store-strong estate across Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
Traditionally, French consumers have often been reluctant to embrace American food and beverage chains, although they have a history of changing their minds, such as with McDonalds, which now counts France as its largest European market.
Arjan Oudejans, Vice President of Branded Solutions, Starbucks EMEA said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to bring the best Starbucks experience that we can offer, to those shoppers who are already looking for the best services and products at Monoprix. This partnership underlines our commitment to growing our business in France, with an experienced French retailer with stores in central, prime city locations. Monoprix is the perfect partner to bring the Starbucks experience alive in their stores.”
Dominique Benoit, Head of Real Estate and Franchise at Monoprix added: “We pride ourselves on offering the widest variety of services and products, and the addition of Starbucks is another example of us giving our customers more. We are looking forward to surprising our customers with an innovative and premium service – the highest quality coffee and Starbucks experience.”
Monoprix, which has been compared to Waitrose, combines food retailing with hardware, clothing, household items and clothing. It was a joint subsidiary of the”¯Casino Group”¯and”¯Groupe Galeries Lafayette, with both partners holding 50% of the company each from 2000, until June 2012 when Casino acquired Galeries Lafayette’s stake.
