Cora to close all Belgian stores with 1,800 job losses

Hypermarket chain Cora is closing all seven of its locations in Belgium at the beginning of 2026, resulting in the loss of an estimated 1,779 jobs.

The brand is aiming for a collective redundancy for staff and a shutdown of the business, management announced.

“The workers are still in shock, especially as they had made many efforts during three previous recovery plans,” the CNE union said in a press release. “The management was unable to adapt to the new challenges of commerce.”

Another union source said “the staff should have legal notice… people were left speechless. There were tears. And then they got up and went to work.”

The SETCa-BBTK union said that 61% of the 1,779 employees were over 45 years old - and half of them have more than 20 years of seniority.

Walloon employment minister Pierre-Yves Jeholet called the announcement "a major shock, with enormous social repercussions".

Workers in some stores closed early and simply went home when they learned of the announcement.

“The shock of the announcement is terrible – the workers knew that Cora was in trouble, but not to this extent,” the CNE union said, deploring heavy uncertainty and a lack of communication from management.

The terms and conditions of the workers’ dismissal are not yet known, but the shopping centres themselves – located in La Louvière, Hornu, Chatelineau, Rocourt, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Anderlecht and Messancy) will be sold off, along with a supply depot in Heppignies.

The buyer is Mitiska REM, a European property investment group, which is expected to renovate the spaces and subdivide them into smaller units for rental.

Federal employment minister David Clarinval said he would meet with management and unions, calling the closure a "social tragedy".

Owned by the Louis Delhaize group, Cora had been experiencing financial difficulties for some time and already tried several restructurings in recent years. In 2024, the chain posted a loss of €24 million.

“Despite all the efforts made by the teams and the actions taken to rectify the situation, the results are proving to be very insufficient in the context of a major crisis in the distribution sector in Belgium,” the group said.

“The financial outlook for 2025 and 2026 did not allow us to continue, as the net loss would have risen to almost €90 million. We wanted to avoid a disaster scenario, such as bankruptcy, at all costs.”

Management said it had explored all avenues for a sale to another mass retail player, but without success.

Cora was the last distribution brand active within the Louis Delhaize group after the sale of Match, Smatch and Delitraiteur to Colruyt and Louis Delhaize to Delhaize.

Carrefour also bought the French and Romanian activities of Cora and Match, and E.Leclerc has taken over Cora Luxembourg.

The dismissal of the 1,779 Cora employees is the seventh largest wave of redundancies in Belgium since 2010, according to figures from the federal employment ministry.

Other major layoffs include those at car manufacturer Ford Genk, whose 2012 factory closure laid off 4,264 workers, Audi Brussels (2,920 workers) and General Motors Belgium (2,612 workers).

The Carrefour retail chain laid off 3,363 people in 2010 and Delhaize Belgium axed 2,500 jobs in June 2014.

ArcelorMittal Belgium in Flémalle dismissed 1,300 workers in 2013, bus builder Van Hool axed 1,116 jobs in 2024 before going bankrupt, and Carsid in Charleroi cut 1,004 jobs in March 2012.

Prior to Cora, the most recently announced collective dismissal with more than 2,000 jobs threatened was at Caterpillar-Solar in Gosselies in September 2016 (2,101 jobs).

In total, there have been 14 announcements of collective redundancies with more than 1,000 jobs threatened since 2010.