Just days after reports emerged that Intermarché was leaving Tienen, the French retailer has also sold its last remaining store in the Dutch-speaking North of Belgium (in Aarschot). Both supermarkets will reopen as Colruyt.
Sale
Both supermarkets have already started their clearance sale and will close their doors at the end of this month, a notice to customers at the entrance says. The retailer confirms to RetailDetail that the shops will reopen later as Colruyt.
“Both premises have been owned by Colruyt Group for some time, and on 2 April the trading agreements will also be taken over. The employees of both shops will be offered a contract by Colruyt Group. The two supermarkets will close for a few months for renovations before reopening as Colruyt in the autumn”, group spokesperson Eva Biltereyst confirmed to RetailDetail editors.
Test cases
When Intermarché took over the shops of Carrefour franchise partner Mestdagh in 2022, it also gained the two Flemish shops in Tienen and Aarschot. This was a tough case for the French retailer, who in Belgium only operated in the French-speaking South and only since the takeover also in bilingual Brussels.
CEO Guillaume Beuscart, who led the integration of the shops, saw the supermarkets in Tienen and Aarschot as test cases for the potential of the Intermarché concept in Flanders. Early this year, he said he still believed in the opportunities: shops close to the language border already attract quite a lot of Flemish customers today, he stated then. But judging by customer reactions on social media, Intermarché has never really invested enough in these shops.
