Kaufland is a German hypermarket chain, part of the Schwarz Gruppe which also owns Lidl. The hypermarket directly translates to English as ‘buy-land’. It opened its first store in 1984 in Neckarsulm and quickly expanded to become a leader in what was formerly East Germany. The chain operates over 1,200 stores in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Moldova.