Cora wants to close all seven supermarkets by 2026: 1,779 people threaten to lose their job

Cora explains that it has investigated the possibility of selling the hypermarkets to one or more buyers from the retail sector, but that none of them has shown interest in taking over integrated hypermarkets under current market conditions. Cora will continue its activities until the end of the procedure and the possible closure and the hypermarkets will remain open.

Losing losing

The retail sector has been struggling with « economic and structural challenges for several years, » the management says in a press release. She refers to the fact that the consumer deals more carefully with his expenses, and therefore also visits more discount chains. In addition, there is the advance of online shopping and consumers more often for neighborhood shops and specialty stores. « These developments lead to customers getting off the ‘everything under one roof’ formula that is characteristic of hypermarkets, » the press release says. « In Belgium, the segmentation of the sector in various joint committees has also created and maintained competitive disruptions that are detrimental to large stores such as Cora. »

The chain has piled up the losses in recent years, with shareholder Louis Delhaize already implementing various capital increases. “Despite all the efforts to turn the situation, the results appear to be very insufficient in the crisis context that the Belgian retail sector is going through today. Moreover, the future economic forecasts show that a recovery in the short and medium term is no longer possible. Since this situation is no longer tenable, the management of the work or revision of the work has been submitted to the work of recovery, which revealed the work of the recovery plans, which is revised under the new recovery plans, which is revised, understood, which revised the recovery plans. None of these options a sustainable solution for Cora, ”the press release sounds.

A sale of the seven stores also did not work. No buyer from the big distribution showed an interest in taking over integrated hypermarkets under current market conditions, it is said.

The galleries next to the hypermarkets are in the hands of Galimmo. She wants to sell them to Mitiska Reim, which will take over the real estate. « The aim is to renovate and divide the spaces that Cora is currently in use into smaller units for rental. This allows the shopping centers to continue their activities and the direct and indirect employment in these centers is retained, » it sounds.

Cora has seven stores in Belgium, two of which are in Brussels (Anderlecht and Woluwe) and five in Wallonia (Châtelineau, Hornu, La Louvière, Messancy and Rocourt). It was founded in 1969 as part of the Louis Delhaize Group.

The Cora supermarkets in France were previously bought by Carrefour.