The hypermarket chain Real plans to close seven more branches in the next few months. The markets in Blankenburg and Neuss (Breslauer Straße) should be closed forever, as a company spokesman announced on Thursday. In five other stores in Brühl in Baden-Württemberg, in Dortmund-Aplerbeck, in Menden, in Norden and in Witten, lengthy renovations are planned before they are handed over to other dealers. Here too, the staff must therefore be dismissed. The “Lebensmittel Zeitung” had previously reported on it.
The Real branches in Schwedt an der Oder and Mutterstadt in the Palatinate are also due to be closed for major renovation work at the end of January. But the closure plans had been known internally for a long time, emphasized the spokesman.
It is not the first time that branches have been closed following the takeover of Real by the Russian financial investor SCP. Of the around 270 stores that SCP took over from Metro in 2019, more than 40 have now been closed or are on the closure list.
SCP had acquired the ailing hypermarket chain from Metro in order to break up and sell it on. Kaufland, Edeka and Globus have already secured a large number of branches. But the fate of a number of locations is still open.
There is now apparently hope again for three branches in Espelkamp, Monschau and Wetzlar, which were already on the closure list. Because they are no longer included on the current list. The company spokesman said that interested parties were still being found here with whom negotiations are currently taking place. (dpa)