How Leroy Merlin went from selling discarded equipment to one of the main DIY retailers

One of the largest chains of DIY retailers, Leroy Merlin, began a hundred years ago as a small store selling decommissioned US military equipment in a small French town. Well, or as a love story – Adolphe Leroy and Rose Merlin, after whose names the network is now called. The company accustomed consumers to furniture and even houses that could be assembled themselves, and has since occupied third place in the market for stores of this kind.

The story of Adolf and Rose

Leroy Merlin is one of the most famous retailers of construction products and furniture – or, as they often say, DIY retailers (from DIY, that is, do it yourself). The history of Leroy Merlin began a hundred years ago, in 1923, in the small town of Nez-les-Mines in northern France. As the French media write, it began with a love story. Indeed, that year in this town, 19-year-old Adolphe Leroy married Rose Merlin.

Both families were no strangers to entrepreneurship. The Leroy family – primarily Adolphe’s mother – has been involved in the grocery trade with home delivery since the end of the 19th century. So Adolf was already familiar with running a business, albeit a fairly small one, helping in the family business. But before participating in the family business, he also worked as a miner.

The family moved to Nez-les-Mines after the First World War, which led to great destruction in Billy-Berclot, where they had lived before. And in 1921, Adolphe Leroy’s father opened an Au Stock Americain store in Nez-les-Mines – the name immediately revealed the essence of the business. He sold decommissioned military equipment left behind by the American army that fought in France in World War I.

Rosa Merlin’s family was also involved in trade, for more than one generation, selling dishes and all sorts of household items. And she herself, like her husband, participated in the family business.

In 1923, Adolf took over the management of the Au Stock Americain store. They say that even then, goods from the DIY category first appeared in the store: among other things, there was furniture and building materials – disassembled from American barracks.

This format in itself was new – before this, furniture could only be ordered from a local workshop, or made by yourself, but then from scratch.

Soon Adolf and Rosa came to the conclusion that a successful business could not be built on the remains of military equipment alone. Then the store began to specialize in the trade of building materials, household goods and furniture. Mostly cheap and purchased directly from the manufacturer – sometimes from bankrupt and closing factories, ready to sell off the leftovers for next to nothing.

In 1924, the store began offering free delivery—apparently, the experience of the Leroy family came in handy. Business went well, and in the late 1920s the Leroys launched their own production. Nes-les-Mines and the surrounding area were working-class areas, so they had no problems finding workers or finding buyers who wanted to buy construction supplies and houses cheaply. At first the company had five employees, and by the end of the 1930s there were already about 50.

DIY chalet like a king’s

Quite soon, Leroy-Merlin began doing DIY as well. In France, this trend, which is very popular there, is called bricolage. The company began producing prefabricated buildings – from garages and sheds to chalets and structures for summer banquets. There was even a rhyming slogan: “On vit comme un roi dans un chalet Leroy” (“We live like kings in Leroy’s chalet”). Later, entire prefabricated houses were added to them.

During World War II, the Nazis who occupied France confiscated goods from the store to use for their army. And after the end of the war, Leroy’s store again began selling decommissioned equipment from the American, British and French armies. They say it turned out even more profitable than after the First World War.

In the 1950s, the business passed to the second generation of the family – sons Bernard and Leonel Leroy. In a sense, only then did the history of the retailer in its modern form begin – after all, before that it was only one store in Nez-les-Mines, albeit a very successful one.

Bernard and Leonel almost immediately began opening branches – the first appeared in Merlimont in the same Pas-de-Calais region, the second in Picardy. Finally, in 1960, the company officially received its current name – Leroy Merlin.

That was the time when supermarkets were gaining popularity in Europe, and the Leroy brothers decided to follow this path. In the mid-1960s, they bought warehouse space next to one of the abandoned local mines. And they opened the first construction goods store there, operating on the principle of a supermarket. Buyers could, walking through the store, take from the shelves the goods they needed, rather than wait for the sellers to give them these goods.

By 1971, the range of Leroy Merlin stores reached 8 thousand items, and the stores themselves were located almost throughout France. Soon competitors began to appear – in 1969, the first Castorama store opened in France, working on the same model. Leroy Merlin has become more active in opening its stores in cheap suburban areas. Even then, many large retailers did this, so large shopping centers began to appear near cities. And many of them have Leroy Merlin stores.

Spread around the world

By the mid-1970s, the store’s assortment reached 45 thousand items. Moreover, in the late 1970s the company was going through difficult times. And then the founder of the grocery retailer Auchan, Gerard Mulier, expressed interest in acquiring a stake in it. He bought 50% in Leroy Merlin, however, the deal could only take place after the death of Adolphe Leroy in 1979.

In 1981, another misfortune occurred in the family – Bernard Leroy died in an accident. Then his brother sold the remaining shares of the company to Gerard Mulier. The new owner immediately began to reorganize: now the stores are even more focused on selling a variety of DIY products and household items. But prefabricated houses, the demand for which has dropped significantly, as well as the provision of construction and carpentry services have been abandoned.

In the late 1980s, Leroy Merlin adopted its current logo – a green triangle with the company name. This was supposed to symbolize the house (the triangle looks like a roof), upward movement, as well as the environmental friendliness of the chain’s products.

By this time the company had 44 stores and had returned to growth after the decline of the previous decade.

The international expansion of Leroy Merlin began in the 1990s. The first foreign store was opened in 1989 in Spain. Soon chain stores appeared in Belgium, Poland, Italy, and Brazil. The company actively acquired competitors in other countries: for example, in Belgium it bought the Bricoman chain of stores, and in Italy it bought Bricocenter. In the 2000s, expansion continued: stores were opened in China, Russia, Georgia and other countries.

After the savings and cutbacks of the 1980s, Leroy Merlin began expanding its range again. For example, in the late 1990s it launched the production and sale of floor coverings, home textiles, etc. And recently the company has in some way returned to the practice of carpentry services, albeit in a new DIY form. Now Leroy Merlin operates several Techshop workshops (under license from the American company of the same name): they have a variety of tools – from saws and hammers to 3D printers. People who want to make something, students to complete technical tasks, designers, and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to try out their invention can come to them.

In 2007, the group of companies was renamed ADEO. In addition to Leroy Merlin itself, which has retained its name, it includes numerous purchased chains in other countries and France itself. Now the company ranks third among DIY retailers in the world – after the American Home Depot and Lowe’s.

Leroy Merlin’s revenue reached €9.8 billion last year. The company has more than 140 stores in France and about 500 more around the world. It employs 150 thousand people. Unlike many other international giants, Leroy Merlin strives to maintain regional diversity. The assortment and format of the store may differ from country to country, in addition, the chain in each country is managed by a separate local company.

Yana Rozhdestvenskaya