Jumbo (finally) ready for first Belgian store opening of 2024

Next week, Jumbo will open its 34th Belgian supermarket: Roeselare will be only the first store opening of the year for the Dutch supermarket chain in Belgium, which has plans for five additional shops this year.

Despite protests

Next Wednesday, Jumbo will open a new supermarket in Roeselare, its seventh supermarket in the province of West Flanders, Het Nieuwsblad reports. The Dutch supermarket chain has been trying to open a shop in Roeselare since 2020, but a previous location was shelved because of neighbourhood protests. There are objections for the new location as well: a procedure with the Council for Permit Disputes is still pending.

It is only the first Belgian store opening for Jumbo this year: the chain grew to 33 stores at the end of last year and hopes to open five more this year. Soon after Roeselare, the first Belgian Jumbo Foodmarkt – the retailer’s large experience concept – will open in Ghent. Jumbo’s ambition is to have fifty Belgian supermarkets by 2025, CEO Ton van Veen stated in September last year. To achieve that goal, the chain would have to open twelve more stores in Belgium next year.