Providing everything goes according to plan, Colruyt will open its fourth store in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in November. Soon, it will open another three, although there is local dissatisfaction.
1,500 sqm and twenty jobs
Wemperhardt, located right across the Belgian border, is the fourth location (following Mersch, Gasperich and Sanem) to get a Colruyt. “Construction started in March and it will be a multi-million investment”, Colruyt’s expansion director, Eric Verstraete, told La Dernière Heure. The chain expects to open another three stores in the Grand Duchy, but has not revealed their location.
Its fourth store, 1,500 sqm and with twenty employees, will open on 17 November. “85 % of our product range will be identical to Belgian Colruyt stores, but the remaining 15 % will mostly appeal to Luxembourgers and the Portuguese”, Verstraete said.
Local anxiety
Belgian entrepreneurs in the area are rather worried about Colruyt’s arrival. “I have already written a letter to the Colruyt Group, which I belong to, to express my dissatisfaction”, the independent manager of a local Spar said. “This new supermarket will be a direct competitor and I am afraid I will lose turnover.”
Neighbouring Vielsalm is not too happy about it either. “A section of the Vielsalm citizens already shops in shopping centers Knauf and Massen, both in Luxembourg”, Vielsalm retailers’ representative Pierre Christophe said. “To have a Colruyt in between those shopping centers, will only increase the Grand Duchy’s appeal to the local customers.”
