During his press conference unveiling his rather defensive strategic plan on November 14, Philippe Palazzi, the general director of the Casino group, just made a slight allusion to a recovery, in offensive mode. “ We have positioned ourselves to take over six Auchan convenience stores ”, without saying more. According to our information, these are five MyAuchan stores and one A2Pas, all located in Paris. My Auchan or A2Pas, it doesn't really matter, both correspond to the concept of proximity signed by Auchan. Launched in 2011, A2Pas was gradually replaced by MyAuchan on areas of less than 500m². Casino's interest in these six stores is hardly surprising. In its new configuration, Casino already controls the Parisian market very well via Monoprix, Monop', Naturalia and Franprix. This allows it to prevail against Carrefour with a claimed 43% market share in the capital. Carrefour, which holds a 39% market share in the capital, has not publicly expressed its interest.
376 employees affected by the sale or closure of hypermarkets
The unions say they are surprised by this disengagement from proximity, a niche considered promising, but in which Auchan has never really taken off. “ Auchan left too late, but keeps a laboratory store in the Wazemmes district of Lille », Explains a union representative. The six Auchan stores included in the large-scale social plan announced on November 5 covering more than 2,000 positions (2,352 gross and 2,078 net) are all located in Paris: boulevard Auguste Blanqui (13th arrondissement), rue de Ménimontant and rue Henri Chevreau in 20thrue de Vaugirard and boulevard de Grenelle (15th) and rue Raffet (16th). They employ 56 people, but are not the only ones affected by a sale or closure.
Six Parisian stores
5 My Auchan: 161, rue de Ménilmontant (20th), 40, rue Henri Chevreau (20th), 327, rue de Vaugirard (15th), 28, boulevard de Grenelle (15th) and Traiteur My Auchan, 33, rue Raffet (16th)
1 A2Pas: 104, boulevard Auguste Blanqui (13th)
To these are added three hypermarkets in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme), Bar-le-Duc (Meuse) and Woippy (Moselle) which have 376 employees and a supermarket in Aurillac (34 employees). The sale or closure of the latter does not surprise the unions since it was already on the list of seven supermarkets for sale two years ago. On the other hand, the announcement of the sale or closure of three hypermarkets surprised some. “ Certainly, under the direction of Philippe Brochard (the previous boss of Auchan), the Renaissance project had listed hypermarkets which were losing money, but from there to selling or closing them, there is a big step », recognizes a trade unionist, who hopes that these three will be enough, as the results of Auchan France are so tense. Ebitda for France was already down by 115 million euros at the end of the first half. With more than 1,300 positions affected, or more than half of the social plan, the operation of Auchan stores is paying a heavy price. Nearly 500 job cuts (466 to be exact) concern the ten stores, to which must be added those concerning home furnishings advisors and sector managers, those responsible for security or salary planning.
Mobilization on December 4 at the call of the CGT
The employees are obviously worried about their future. At the call of the CGT, a first mobilization took place in one of the hypermarkets concerned, in Clermont-Ferrand on November 15. The same union is meeting on December 4 to protest against one of the biggest social plans announced this year. Unlike Casino, at the origin of the other major job reduction in 2024, there is no inter-union union bringing together all the unions at the northern distributor. However, as in any job protection plan, a four-month consultation period has just opened. Expertises on the five entities (two on purchasing, the Auchan Retail France headquarters, e-commerce and operations) concerned by the social plan will begin and the support measures for employees will be studied. Results at the end of February-beginning of March.
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