Jumbo confirms timing and location of first Belgian stores

Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo has confirmed it will open its first three Belgian stores before the end of the year. The three locations are Lanaken, Pelt and Rijkevorsel, unsurprisingly all near Belgium’s northeastern border with the Netherlands.

Near the border

There had been previous rumours about both the timing and the location of Jumbo’s first stores in Belgium, but now it has been confirmed: the first stores will be opening in the next few months in the provinces of Antwerp (Rijkevorsel) and Limburg (Lanaken and Pelt). The confirmation was part of the opening ceremony of the chain’s Belgian headquarters in Brasschaat (near Antwerp). Jumbo was looking for some 200 employees for the three stores combined, but most of the vacancies have now been filled.

Antwerp, Belgium’s second city, will also see the opening of its own Jumbo store in early 2020, the chain says on a vacancy for a store manager. Belgium should see the opening of fifteen new stores next year, a longer term ambition is to open 100 stores in Belgium.

Jumbo is a Dutch supermarket chain that was founded in 1921 to sell colonial goods – a story of origin it shares with a number of Belgium’s biggest chains. Its most prominent claim to fame is a lowest price guarantee, which will no doubt clash with Belgium’s market leader Colruyt, who features the same guarantee.