Earlier than expected, Colruyt has been given the green light to start the conversion work of the Match and Smatch stores it recently acquired. The first integrations start this week, with most stores opening under a temporary name: Comarkt/Comarché.
Temporary branding
For 49 of the 57 Match and Smatch shops Colruyt acquired from Louis Delhaize last September, the Belgian competition authority has greenlit the acquisition and transformation works can therefore now start.
However, the lion’s share of them will not immediately be turned into their final shape: they will reopen under the temporary branding of Comarché (Comarkt in Dutch). Over the next seven weeks, 38 shops will reopen under the new name, which they may keep for several years. “Comarché is a name we have been using for several years, for acquired shops for which we have yet to decide on a final branding. This way, we can still offer continuity for customers and employees, pending the definitive transformation”, spokeswoman Hanne Poppe explained.
There are currently only two Comarkts (Bouwel and Humbeek, both former Delhaizes): these do not yet have all the elements of the new concept, such as the full cash register system of a “full-fledged” Colruyt, Okay or Spar. Another, rarer, option is the transfer to premium fresh market concept Cru: the store on Leuven’s Bondgenotenlaan, for example, will be given this new lease of life.
