Cora hypermarket closures confirmed for January

Belgian hypermarket chain Cora will close all seven of its stores in Brussels and Wallonia by 31 January 2026, the group has confirmed at a meeting with the SETCa union of employees, technicians and store managers.

SETCa said that all employees would be able to receive compensation. “The collective work agreement that regulates the redundancies and the way in which the stores will operate until the closure is expected by end August at the latest," said SETCa president, Myriam Delmée.

“The doomsday image of bankruptcy was constantly looming over the negotiations,” she said. “After all, for many employees, bankruptcy would have meant a major financial loss.”

The union said that no employee would need to work out their notice period, with the severance pay allocated as the statutory compensation.

There is talk of a payout of about €203 per year of seniority, limited to 20 years. There will also be a one-off gross premium, the amount of which will be determined in September.

Anyone who leaves the company before the closure will still receive these negotiated conditions, according to the union. In addition, a bridging pension was possible on a voluntary basis until 30 June.

From the end of September, the workforce will decrease systematically, with five waves of departures from the stores in Anderlecht and Woluwe-Saint-Lambert in Brussels and from Châtelineau, Hornu, La Louvière, Messancy and Rocourt in Wallonia.

Some 1,779 jobs will disappear. Cora's closure has been attributed to various factors including decreased purchasing power, more online shopping, foreign competition and the decline of the hypermarket model, still popular in France.

SETCa has negotiated several conditions in the closure agreement to protect Cora employees. Some people have worked in the business for more than 30 years, with their children following them to become Cora staff in turn.

First, the union calls for financial aid as "naturally, everyone must be able to obtain, as a minimum, what they are entitled to by law".

“Alongside the financial aspect, we had to obtain working conditions and an organisation that would make the closure as painless as possible to live with on a daily basis.

“Thirdly, sufficient resources must be made available to retrain the workers,” SETCa added. “Unemployment is not inevitable, and everyone should be able to take a training course that will enable them to change direction in their careers. This obviously requires resources.”

Irrespective of these demands being met, the union regrets for Cora workers that “these demands will not give you back your company or your job. There was little room for negotiation and the risk of bankruptcy was always present.

“We believe we have achieved a balance, which obviously still needs to be translated into final texts. The devil is often in the detail, so we will continue to pay close attention to the smallest points.”