Lagardère Travel Retail SNC, trading as Relay, is a French travel retailer and a chain of newspaper, magazine, book, and convenience stores, mostly based in train stations and airports. It is owned by Lagardère Travel Retail, a subsidiary of the French conglomerate Louis Hachette Group, itself owned by French billionaire businessman Vincent Bolloré.
The company was formed by Louis Hachette in 1852. Its heaviest concentration is in France, but it also operates in other countries. In 2010, the network had 1,100 shops on 4 continents.[3] In Northern America, Relay is operated by Paradies Lagardère Travel Retail.
History
Relay started under the name Relais H', when in 1852 Louis Hachette acquired the "trainstations' libraries". The sales of newspapers quickly overperformed the sales of books. To keep books' sales up, Relais H innovated by creating book series and asking specific authors to write those series.[4]