Groupe Auchan SA (French pronunciation: ​[oʃɑ̃]) is a French international retail group and multinational corporation headquartered in Croix, France. It is one of the world's principal distribution groups with a presence in 15 countries and 269,000 employees. The company began when Gérard Mulliez opened his first self-service shop in Roubaix in the district of Hauts-Champs -pronunciation is very similar to "Auchan". Auchan has branches in France, and internationally in China, Hungary, India, Iraq, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Spain, Taiwan and Ukraine.