The brand new Louis Delhaize supermarket in the Keerdok car park in Mechelen, which has only been open for a year, will close its doors at the beginning of April. Not enough customers came. Colruyt Group wants to reopen the store later.
In January last year, there was great excitement among staff when Louis Delhaize Group opened a new neighborhood supermarket in Keerdok car park. The 700 square meter store was the first according to Louis Delhaize's new concept. Initially it was open even on Sundays, but the group soon abandoned that due to lack of success. Overall, Antonia Wolfstraat's new Louis Delhaize turned out to be not attracting large crowds.
The store was opened mainly with the aim of the future, because in the coming years hundreds of new apartments will be built in the area to develop the new Kerduk City area. In September 2023, it was announced that Colruyt Group had plans to acquire 57 Match and Smatch stores, including a Louis Delhaize branch in the Van der Valk Hotel parking tower.
Expectations below
“We expect a decision from the Belgian Competition Authority on this acquisition in the second half,” says Colruyt spokesman Hanni Pope. The Belgian family business's ambition is to quickly reopen its stores temporarily as CoMarkt. Then they get a new concept. This will not be the case immediately for Mickelen, among others. “Louis Delhaize told us that the store's results are well below expectations. That's why we want to close it for a little longer, so that we can immediately open one of our current concepts there,” explains Bob.
Staff were recently informed of the plans. The seven employees could work at one of Colruyt's other stores in the area. They originally came from the Match store on Haverwerf in central Mechelen, where Spar is now located. The very old Smatch store on Borzestraat closed its doors last month. Colruyt Group will not undertake this.
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