Premature end for Mere Belgium

Russian ‘superdiscounter’ Mere has closed its only Belgian store prematurely, accompanied with the chaos that has become synonymous with the company.

No warning

Mere’s Belgian story is over: the Russian discounter has closed its first (and, so far?, only) Belgian store this week. That happened without a prior warning, only a message on Facebook late Sunday evening warned shoppers that the store would not open again on Monday. There is one exception: “small wholesalers” who want to purchase for at least 150 euros can still come to the store’s warehouse.

The premature closure is a continuation of the shambles that has accompanied the store for a long time. Just two weeks ago, the company had announced that it would “at least remain open until 15 November” – a last minute contradiction of its initial plans to close mid-October.

Mere Belgium has been swinging back and forth since the earliest reports that the store would come to Opwijk near Brussels in 2021. The company missed its supposed opening deadline and then surprised everyone by spectacularly misreading the room and opening just after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Four months later, the store has already finished. However, there still can be some more twists in the tale: Mere remains confident it can still open a small dozen stores in Belgium, in major cities like Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent. And given the previous chaos, who can say for sure that they will not?