Inaugurated on September 23, 2009, the Casino d’Odysseum hypermarket, in Montpellier, like around twenty others throughout France, permanently closed its doors this Monday, September 30, 2024.
Coming specially from Ganges by bus, Claudine admits: she would almost cry. A store so empty, of products, of customers, of staff, that “hurts the heart”. Well, Claudine didn’t forget to get some good deals either. In her cart, which is overflowing: ten pairs of windshield wipers, as many car sun visors, tire chains… She would be wrong to deprive herself of them, it’s a bargain. And his son “loves Peugeots”SO. The return bus journey promises.
An employee: “I experience it quite well”
Employees are less talkative. They do not have authorization to speak from their management… who nevertheless abandon them. At noon, in the warehouses, it’s time for a very special farewell drink, fifteen years almost to the day after the opening of this store. “It’s a shame that we’ve come to this point, having to close, laments an employee, who has been there for several years. Last day. But I’m living it quite well, it’s okay, we’re bored though, I think the customers are more sorry than us.” The employees will stay there for another four to six weeks, time to really clear things up.
A gallery trader: “We’re still at Odysseum”
In the shopping arcade of the hypermarket, the atmosphere is even different. The four traders present do not know how they will be eaten. They depend directly on Klépierre, like the entire Odysseum shopping center. Anger is not far away. “Of course I’m annoyed! Who wouldn’t be? I’m going to find myself with a closed curtain in front of my store, completely isolated. This is going to have consequences on my business, on my turnover. They should have anticipated, We’re in Odysseum after all! Plus, we pay exorbitant rent.”
Curettage, raw concrete and reworked access?
Negotiations are underway to logically adjust their rents. Especially since the situation is expected to last. “There is no buyer identified”underlines the national management of Casino. We already knew that. By November or December, the hypermarket has been completely emptied, cleaning must then begin and the building returned to its initial state, in raw concrete. Nearly 20,000 m2 will then be available. But most certainly in a completely different configuration, in batches, and no longer with convoluted access but with openings from the rear. Info or misinformation, on the Odysseum side, some professionals are starting to dream of more current brands: Grand Frais and Lidl are mentioned. Nothing is less certain.
Avenue de Toulouse: soon a Netto
Avenue de Toulouse, the supermarket also closed its doors at the start of the week (as well as the parking lot). But in a completely different context since this store is taken over by the Les Mousquetaires group. But it is not an Intermarché that will set up (the brand is already well present in the sector: at Grand-M and on avenue Clemenceau) but a Netto, the group’s discount concept. It should be open by the end of the month.
Also read:
“It was a showcase, a beautiful store”: upon the announcement of the closure of the Odysseum Casino in Montpellier, the employees were rather “relieved”
Also read:
Closure of the Odysseum Casino in Montpellier: a “heartbreak” for some, “well done” for others
