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There are three distinct phases in the history of French distribution: from 1957 to 1973, when mass consumption was taking off, there was a crystallization of the hypermarket as The model of the Trente Glorieuses (30-year boom period); from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, while consumption was slowing down, the development of the hypermarkets was driven by diversification in non-food products and internationalization; lastly, in a more competitive and unstable environment, the hypermarket has to satisfy two largely contradictory demands: a demand for low-price staple consumer products that made the success of discount stores, and a demand for quality, for differentiation and services expressed by more and more individualist and fickle consumers. It only partially succeeded. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, quantity distribution is going through a deep crisis, which is not specifically French, which forces it to redefine the bases of its growth. This change raises an essential question: while it was well adapted to the growth of undifferentiated mass consumption whose development it helped, is the hypermarket formula able to adapt to the demographic, social and cultural changes of the beginning of the 21st century or are the problems it is having today the sign of an irremediable wearing out?