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 major chain in what was formerly East Germany. It operates over 1,400 stores in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Moldova.