Colruyt will sell its Parisian stores to competitor Carrefour. In the northeast of the country, the Belgian group will continue to invest in growth.
From Colruyt to Carrefour Contact
It concerns supermarkets in Périgny-sur-Yerres, Saint Pathus and Valenton. If all goes to plan, the stores will be converted into Carrefour Contact shops by the beginning of July. As it involves a transaction between two industry colleagues, the plans were submitted to the competition authorities, where the colleagues of Linéaires picked up the message.
Colruyt has been expanding cautiously in France for some time. The chain now has 88 outlets in the country, mainly in the Grand Est, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Rhône-Alpes regions. “The three stores in the Paris region are logistically isolated and that is the only reason why it was decided to find a buyer for them,” says spokesperson Eva Biltereyst, who emphasises that the supermarkets are successful.
This does not mean, however, that Colruyt is completely abandoning its growth ambitions in France. On the contrary: the group is shifting up a gear in the northeast of France. At the end of March, Colruyt opened a new distribution centre for fresh fruit and vegetables in Gondreville, near Nancy.