Expatica news

Number of food stores at all time low

17 September 2007

BRUSSELS – The number of food stores in Belgium hit an all time low in 2006. At the end of the year there were 8,139 food shops and supermarkets in the country, 187 fewer than in 2005. This has emerged from the annual inventory of the Belgian retail food industry by information company AC Nielsen.

The decline is entirely due to the closing of smaller groceries and traditional shops that have a surface area of less than 400 m2. For the first time since the 1990s new medium-sized stores, like a Super GB Contact or Proxy Delhaize, opened.

In 1970 Belgium had 34,900 food shops. By 1995 that number had dropped to 13,000.

The total turnover of the sector did rise by 2.2 percent in 2006, if no account is taken of inflation. That is one of the better growth percentages of the past decade and the best of the past three years. If inflation is taken into account, turnover grew 4 percent.

[Copyright Expatica News 2007]

Subject: Belgian news