French market leader in fabrics takes over Belgian number one

The French fabric store chain Mondial Tissus has expanded into Belgium, through the takeover of Mondial Textiles. The latter’s eight shops (all in Belgium’s French-speaking area) have all been renamed, now the new owner also wants to take on Belgium’s Dutch-speaking North.

One year later…

The first reports about the takeover already date back from last year: Les Echos reported on the operation on 17 June 2021, writing that “Mondial Tissus’s sales have boomed owing to the pandemic“. It has taken almost a year, but now the acquisition is completed.

Mondial Textiles currently has eight shops in Belgium: in Arlon, Braine-l’Alleud (where the head office is also located), Gosselies, Liège, Marche-en-Famenne, Mons, Namur and Wavre. More should follow soon, an expansion that would take place both via own shops and via franchise. The Mondial Textiles webshop already refers to the webshop of the new French owner, who has already made it clear that it also wants to tap into the Dutch-speaking North of Belgium, where Mondial Textiles did not have any stores.

Fifth foreign market

For Mondial Tissus, the step to Belgium is important and also logical, CEO Bernard Cherqui said in a press release. “The choice for Belgium was actually obvious. On the one hand because of its geographical location and similar cultural values, and on the other hand because of its enormous creative potential. We are looking forward to getting to know this market, which has a great fondness for decoration, more closely and to further adapt our product range to it!”

Mondial Tissus has around eighty stores in France, and is also active online in Austria, Germany, Monaco and Spain. In addition to the eight Belgian shops that will join the chain with this sale, there is also a single German shop in Stuttgart.