Until 2014 it was also active internationally, in Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey; most of these operations were bought by French retail company Auchan Group.

In 2018, Metro decided to divest the Real chain and in 2021, many markets were taken over by either Edeka, Kaufland, Globus, Rewe or V-Markt and got rebranded with the brand of the respective new owner.

After some rescue attempts failed, the remaining 45 stores that will not be taken over by competitors were closed by the end of March 2024 and the company finally ceased trading and was liquidated.

[2] In November 2018, Metro sold its 91 Real hypermarkets in Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine to Auchan for €1.1 billion.

270 outlets were sold to other supermarket chains and got rebranded with the brand of the respective new owner, while more than 40 markets were or will be closed.

[10] As well as food, Real also offers a wide assortment of household goods, electrical appliances, books, media, textiles and footwear (sports and regular footwear were concessions owned by Hamm Market Solutions GmbH & Co KG, based in Osnabruck, Germany), sports goods, and stationery.