Carpetright out of business in Belgium: 16 stores close

After the collapse in Britain, it now seems to be game over for Carpetright in Belgium: the branch has filed for bankruptcy and all 16 stores have closed their doors.

European fate unclear

For a while it seemed that the Belgian Carpetright stores would survive the bankruptcy of their British parent company, but that hope turned out to be in vain: Carpetright Belgium is out of business, reports VTM Nieuws. The 16 Belgian stores are closing their doors, with the webshop already closed.

At a workers’ council today, employees were told it was the end of the line. Carpetright previously pulled out of Wallonia; the remaining Flemish stores were managed from the Netherlands. The Dutch branch is expected to remain active, according to information provided by Johan Van Loon of the ACV Puls trade union: “Flanders had been a burden on the Netherlands for some time: few stores, high losses. The chain was already in a contraction scenario anyway – expiring leases were not renewed – but a complete bankruptcy still comes as a surprise.”

In the UK, sector peer Tapi took over about one in five Carpetright stores at the end of July, resulting in 218 stores disappearing. European top executive Gideon Tienkamp told RetailDetail at the time that the 104 Belgian and Dutch shops would continue their business activities unabated. What will now happen to the remaining European operations is still unclear.