End of an era: Cora closes last seven hypermarkets

Early next year, Cora will close its last remaining seven hypermarkets. Mitiska REIM will take over the real estate assets, owner Louis Delhaize Group announced this morning.

No recovery possible

“Despite all our efforts and the measures taken to turn the situation around, the results remain far too weak given the ongoing crisis in the Belgian retail sector. Furthermore, future economic forecasts indicate that recovery in the short or medium term is no longer feasible.” This is how the Cora management officially confirmed the end of its Belgian operations.

The news comes as no surprise: Cora have been struggling with disappointing financial performances for years and the chain has been in a long decline from an international chain to just seven remaining hypermarkets, all in Belgium. Moreover, many analysts consider the hypermarket format itself is as outdated in a retail sector that now prioritises proximity, convenience, operational efficiency and digital channels. In a food retail landscape marked by growing competition, the traditional hypermarket appears to have reached the end of its life cycle.

Just like Cora itself, the Louis Delhaize Group has been rapidly scaling back its involvement in retail. Last year, it sold Delitraiteur and several Match and Smatch outlets to Colruyt Group, while Delhaize took over the Louis Delhaize neighbourhood stores. Cora’s last remaining operations were also sold to Carrefour (France and Romania) and E.Leclerc (Luxembourg).

Sites to be divided

Louis Delhaize had still injected thirty million euros of new capital into Cora at the end of last year to provide temporary relief, but that was only to buy time trying to find potential buyers. However, “nobody expressed interest in acquiring integrated hypermarkets”, the company now concedes. All 1,779 employees may face collective redundancy, pending the outcome of the social negotiations that have now been initiated. In the meantime, the stores will remain open.

Mitiska REIM has bought the real estate around the hypermarkets, and plans to subdivide the sites into smaller retail units for leasing. “This will allow the shopping centres to continue operating”, the company stated. This was no surprise either: dividing the large hypermarkets into smaller commercial spaces had been considered the most likely outcome from the outset.