The date had been announced six months agoand the bet was kept. The Kerbio Europe, largest organic supermarket of the Brest metropolis (20 employees), will finally meet its customers this Thursday morning at 9 a.m. “It’s the end of the tunnel, after 17 months of hard work, the teams are very happy to return to their store”confides Yann Clugery, chairman of the board of directors of the Finis Terra cooperative, which manages 10 Biocoop stores in North Finistère.
Management will return to its offices on the upper floors within a week. In total, the reconstruction of the building cost one and a half million euros to insurance.
Flagship
The reopening, eagerly awaited by residents of the Pontanézen district, closes a very complicated episode for Finis Terra. In just 24 hours, on June 29 and 30, 2023, two of the four Brest stores had to close following arson. “These last four years, between Covid, the downturn in the organic market, and these two disasters… knock on wood but I hope we never experience that again.”
Yann Clugery recalls that with Kerbio Europe, “it’s the flagship that’s heading back to sea”. The supermarket carried out before its closure 5.5 million euros annual turnover. It sees an average of 400 customers per day, and almost double on Friday and Saturday.
Nicolas Olivier
An opening in Ploudalmézeau?
The management of the two disasters slightly slowed down the development of the cooperative, which had to leave certain projects on hold. She still opened a tenth point of sale last summer, a mini-market in the town of Plouarzel. Another should be created in 2025 in the center of Ploudalmézeau. And the move of the Lesneven store is complete. Yann Clugery recalls that “Biocoop’s vision is to make organic products accessible everywhere and for everyone, it’s a great challenge”.
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