Mediamarkt closes a new store

The store will permanently close its doors on December 29 at 6 p.m.

MediaMarkt, the electro specialist, will close its store housed in a Makro hypermarket in Machelen (Flemish Brabant) on December 30, 2022, we learned on Wednesday after an extraordinary works council. “This decision is linked to the closure of the Makro store in Machelen”, explains the management.

The 24 employees of MediaMarkt Machelen will have the opportunity to work in the stores located nearby (Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Docks, Basilix, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Rue Neuve and Wilrijk) until a new location is found In the region.

“Our location is located in the same building as Makro and is mainly accessible via this store. After closing, our store will only be accessible through a side entrance. As it proved impossible to create a separate entrance for our store, we had no choice but to decide to close the location at short notice and look for a new location in the Machelen area,” explains Caroline Serry, regional director. The store will permanently close its doors on December 29 at 6 p.m.

” Pretext ”

The news made unions jump. “Justifying the closure of the Belgian Makro on 31/12/22 is only a pretext and has nothing to do with the closure of the MediaMarkt Machelen, planned by the management more than a year ago already”, reacts Youssef Haddad, CNE union delegate.

“Since the announcement of the restructuring plan in August 2020 and our takeover by MediaMarkt Nederland in April 2021, the New operating model – new operational model – and above all new management methods have prompted more than 700 employees to leave MediaMarkt Belgium”, he continues.

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Some 450 hires have taken place, barely. “From 1,450 employees in 2020 we have gone to 1,200 in 2022. This makes nearly 20% of staff pushed to leave while avoiding a costly collective redundancy procedure according to the “Renault Law””, denounces the delegate.

According to the latter, at the head office in Zellik, 40% of staff members have left the company “voluntarily” since the merger into a Benelux entity. “The pressure on employees still in place is such that staff turnover is still extremely high, the number of long-term sick colleagues is at record levels and many departures without replacement are still taking place in our stores and at head office,” he explains.

“For three years, MediaMarkt Belgium has been short of cash, our margin is low, our equity is largely negative and our financial solvency is insufficient. All this makes us fear the worst for the staff”, punctuates Youssef Haddad.