Have a look at this intersection in Annecy! Nothing remarkable, right?

You can see a typical view of the Alps and the sign with the name of one street – Avenue Parmelan.

Then, you can find the name of the other street – Avenue André Theuriet.

The building in the center of the photo hosts, at ground level, a Casino market.

But things weren’t this way in the past… Below is a photo of the same place, taken in 1961. You can see different cars and a world very much different from what we know today.

And here is the same perspective from 2023. The very same spot.

The word “carrefour” is translated in English by “crossroads” or “intersection”. Nowadays, Carrefour is a huge chain of supermarkets, known in many European countries. But its name is not random: it comes from this crossroad in Annecy, where the first Carrefour supermarket was opened in June 1960 by Marcel Fournier and Denis Defforey. Yes, this is the birthplace of Carrefour. And it was an eerie experience to visit it. Below I leave 2 links to the website of Carrefour and to the Annecy Patrimony website from which I took the old photo.

Carrefour – https://www.carrefour.com/en/group/history
Les Musées d’Annecy – http://musees.annecy.fr/Patrimoines/Patrimoine-economique/Supermarche-Carrefour-a-son-ouverture-avenue-du-Parmelan-1961