Jumbo adds four more Alvo supermarkets to Belgian branch

Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo continues its Belgian expansion through the acquisition of four Alvo stores currently owned by Christophe De Laet. The four are added to the six Alvo stores that Jumbo had acquired earlier.

Opening this autumn

The four Alvo stores that make the switch to Jumbo are those in Boom, Niel and Rumst (all in the southwestern corner of the province of Antwerp) and in East-Flanders’ Baasrode. They will all close at the end of February to be thoroughly renovated, and are scheduled to reopen this autumn in Jumbo’s yellow. All the staff will make the switch to Jumbo, and new reinforcements will be addedd as well.

When the process is complete, Jumbo will have acquired ten stores from the Alvo chain: the six supermarkets who have already made the switch to the Dutch chain are those in Antwerpen (Lange Leemstraat and Deurne Wim Saerensplein), Berlare, Denderleeuw, Lauwe and Ranst. Despite not being unprecedented, this acquisition is rather painful for Alvo as the entrepreneur making the switch now, Christophe De Laet, used to be the group’s chairman. Moreover, he also chairs branch organisation Buurtsuper.be.

Alvo is an association with rather loose ties to its members: other franchise chains have stricter contracts that make switching to a competitor a lot more difficult. The switch also spells bad news for Colruyt Group, which cooperates with Alvo for purchasing purposes.