The seven Belgian Cora hypermarkets are not even closed yet, but the search for new tenants for the sites is going well. The next chain to confirm its arrival is fashion discounter Kiabi.
Five sites
The French fashion chain will open stores in Boussu, La Louvière, Liège, Messancy and Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe. Only Anderlecht and Châtelineau are not concerned, local medium Sudinfo reports.
The Cora sites are is not entirely new territory for Kiabi: five years ago, the chain opened a shop-in-shop for baby clothes in the Cora supermarket in La Louvière. Five other corners (with a wider range) followed later, but completely independent stores are, of course, a different matter altogether.
Filling in the gaps
It will not be until January 2026 that all Cora stores will be permanently closed, but the search for new tenants is already well underway. Toy chain DreamLand was the first to announce its arrival at all seven sites, exclusively to RetailDetail. Delhaize and (for three sites) Extra Shop followed suit.
In April, owner Louis Delhaize (now LDz) announced that it also wanted to discontinue Cora’s Belgian activities, after having already divested all other branches. The real estate was sold to Mitiska REIM, which will divide the hypermarkets into smaller commercial spaces. With supermarkets, toy stores, and now also clothing stores, the sites as a whole are actually starting to resemble hypermarkets again…
