Rank, Company
ve; Headquarters; Sales (Billions); No. of Stores; Countries of Operation
1. WAL-MART STORES
H. Lee Scott Jr.; United States; $256.3; 5,045; Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam
2. CARREFOUR
Daniel Bernard; France; 79.6; 10,364; Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates
3. AHOLD
Anders Moberg; Netherlands; 63.3; 8,925; Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United States
4. METRO GROUP
Hans-Joachim Korber; Germany; 60.5; 2,478; Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vietnam
5. KROGER
David Dillon; United States; 53.8; 3,740; United States
6. TESCO
Terry Leahy; United Kingdom; 50.3; 2,325; Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom
7. REWE
Ernst Dieter Berninghaus; Germany; 44.3; 14,364; Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine
8. COSTCO
Jim Sinegal; United States; 41.7; 419; Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States
9. ALDI
Theo Albrecht Jr., Norbert Podschlapp; Germany; 41.0e; 7,088; Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States
10. ITM ENTERPRISES
Philippe Lebreton; France; 37.7e; 11,347; Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain
11. SAFEWAY
Steve Burd; United States; 35.6; 1,906; Canada, Mexico, United States
12. ALBERTSONS
Larry Johnston; United States; 35.4; 2,288; United States
13. SCHWARZ GROUP
Dieter Schwarz; Germany; 33.4; 5,887; Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
14. AUCHAN
Christophe Dubrulle; France; 32.4; 2,796; Angola, Argentina, China, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan
15. AEON
Toshiji Tokiwa; Japan; 30.6; 8,715; Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, S Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States
16. ITO-YOKADO
Toshifumi Suzuki; Japan; 30.5; 22,654; Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United States
17. EDEKA
Alfons Frenk; Germany; 29.7; 13,835; Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Russia
18. SAINSBURY
Justin King; United Kingdom; 28.0e; 784; United Kingdom, United States
19. TENGELMANN
Karl-Erivan W. Haub; Germany; 27.7; 6,894; Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United States
20. LECLERC
Edouard Leclerc, Michel-Edouard Leclerc; France; 27.3e; 539; France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain
21. CASINO
Christian Couvreux; France; 26.0; 8,581; Argentina, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Comoros, France, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Reunion, Taiwan, Tunisia, Uruguay, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam
22. DELHAIZE GROUP
Pierre-Olivier Beckers; Belgium; 21.3; 2,557; Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Thailand, United States
23. LOBLAW
John Lederer; Canada; 18.0; 1,641; Canada
24. COLES MYER
John Fletcher; Australia; 17.5; 2,190; Australia, New Zealand
25. DAIEI
Kunio Takagi; Japan; 17.2; 3,019; China, Japan, United States
e=estimate. Sales figures are for the latest financial year. Companies included must have a significant portion of their sales from food. Information taken from company documents unless otherwise indicated.
As part of its restructuring scheme, Ahold has meanwhile withdrawn from Malaysia, Indonesia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand; the withdrawal from Brazil is almost complete. Delhaize Group exited Singapore with the sale of its Shop N Save supermarkets in October 2003. Safeway store/country data includes unconsolidated activities in Mexico. Wal-Mart store/county data includes unconsolidated Seiyu activities. Under Countries of Operation, United States includes Puerto Rico.
