After the sale of the supermarket chain Real everything suddenly happens very quickly: the investor wants to close the first branches – others are to be sold.
"Once there. Everything in there." This is the slogan of the popular supermarket chain "Real", which currently has 276 branches in Germany. So far, at least – because now a lot is likely to change for the markets. In addition to branch closures, sales to other chains are under discussion.
Real closes several branches
The takeover from the Russian investor SCP was just a week ago, and the first plans for the large supermarket chain are already known: Real is expected to close several branches by the end of the year. So far, eight of the almost 300 branches across Germany have been affected. There is even concrete information about which real markets should close in 2021. The following locations are affected, according to Lebensmittelzeitung.de:
- Berlin-Spandau
- Duisburg-Süd
- Herten-Westerholt
- Leißling-Weißenfels
- Mönchengladbach-Rheydt
- Bitterfeld-Wolfen
- Frankenthal
- Goslar
Not only do popular shopping destinations disappear, but many people could lose their jobs. A total of 700 employees of the affected branches are expected to become unemployed by the end of the year. According to Real spokesman, the reason for the closure is the "difficult economic situation due to very high losses".
Will there be no real markets soon?
They are not the first closings: Real announced the end of seven branches in Augsburg, Bamberg, Bad Sobernheim, Deggendorf, Papenburg, Rheine and Wildau in March. From the start, the new investor also held out the prospect of closing up to 30 stores.
The Real stores originally belonged to the Metro group and were taken over by SCP at the end of June. The store closures will not stay the same: The "Real" brand could completely disappear in the future. The investor plans to sell 141 branches, around half of the markets, to Kaufland and Edeka. But that's not all – further locations should be for sale, negotiations with other food chains are ongoing. As many employees as possible should be taken on here.