Obituary: Founder of Castorama

Christian Dubois, founder of the French DIY multiple Castorama, died on 20 January at 83 years of age. He was one of the pioneers of the DIY retail industry in Europe. Following a trip to the USA in 1967 he decided to establish large-format DIY stores in France, modelled on the home centers in America. Opening at Englos near Lille in 1969, the first of these DIY stores operated under the “Central Castor” banner and had a retail area of 5 000 m². According to the company, this was the first DIY superstore in Europe. During the 1980s, Christian Dubois turned Castorama into the number one DIY group in France. The parent company, Castorama Dubois Investissements, was floated in 1981. Christian Dubois resigned from his position as chief executive officer in 1992 at the age of 71, but still remained chairman of the supervisory board. The British Kingfisher group acquired 55 per cent of the company’s capital in 1998 and, in a countermove, brought the B&Q trading format into the Castorama group. Kingfisher acquired the remaining 45 per cent of Castorama in 2002, despite the opposition of the Dubois family. The result of this was the final withdrawal of Christian Dubois from all company business.