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Russian discounter MyPrice has already closed its store in Boom again, just nine months after its controversial opening. The chain now has only three Belgian stores remaining, despite lofty ambitions at its launch.
High rents
The MyPrice store in the centre of Boom (a city between Antwerp and Brussels) has closed for good, the retailer confirmed local Facebook group “Ik zen van Boom”. The company cited “low customer traffic and high rents” as the reason, says it is looking for a smaller store to return this year.
MyPrice Boom opened its doors at the end of February 2024, after controversy over its permits. It was the third Belgian store for the discounter, after Opwijk and Boussu. Despite also opening in Antwerp one month later, its lofty ambitions of opening “dozens” of additional shops in Belgium has not come to much so far.
Cheap overstocks
MyPrice is the name under which Russian discounter Mere has been trying again in Western Europe since last year. The chain sells overstocks of unknown brands from Eastern European countries, displayed on pallets and in cold rooms. It is part of the Siberian group Svetofor, which also operates in countries such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Uzbekistan.
The company entered the Belgian, British and Spanish markets in 2022 with high ambitions. However, the chain could not live up to them: for instance, the store in Opwijk (later repurposed as MyPrice) closed after only four months, due to supply problems and anti-Russian sentiment. In other Western European countries, the retailer also left quickly and quietly.
