“In 2026, we have expansion plans, we want even more stores opened compared with 2025. We have openings planned for all types of formats, but we will also do remodeling, expand the portfolio and implement new technologies. We also have special promotions and tastings, especially in hypermarkets,” say Roxana Cernica, small formats business unit director and member of Carrefour’s Executive Board and Catalin Samara, hypermarket business unit director & member of Carrefour’s Executive Board.
The statements come at a time when more and more voices associate 2026 with the exit of the French-held retailer from Romania. ZF reported as early the summer that Carrefour was looking into a potential sale of the Romanian business, with talks picking up towards the end of 2025.
The officials of the group did not confirm the talks, only said they were analyzing the portfolio, therefore the local business, as well. They have already sold the network in Italy and international media reports say that Poland, too, is on the list.
Sources told ZF that the sale in Romania’s case is a matter of price offered by potential buyers, since the French-held group has a better performing business in this country than in the others. Therefore, if the group does not get as much as it seeks to, it may not sell.
Top Carrefour executives say 2026 is the year of development. Carrefour inaugurated 34 new stores in 2025 – 4 Market supermarkets, 27 Express convenience stores and 3 Supeco (discount and cash&cary mix), while also remodeling some of the existing stores. It added 43 new stores in 2024, 15 of which came from Cora. In all, it has more than 470 stores in Romania.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)