Massacre of organic shops everywhere in France

Located not far from the Ministry of Defense, the Bio c’ Bon store is located at 15 Ballard Street.^e Paris County may be living in its final moments… just maybe. Due to the lack of sufficient turnover, the Carrefour Group, the owner of this specialized brand, decided to transform it into a Carrefour City supermarket. The reins were to be handed over to a franchisee, even though there were barely forty numbers, despite the presence of another Carrefour on the same street. The closure for staff was announced on Sunday, June 4, despite opposition from neighborhood residents over petitions.

While the project was almost finished, a theatrical coup from the building’s owner: social landlord Paris Habitat reminded Carrefour that the building was only intended to sell organic products, according to the current wording of the lease. Bilan, the suspended organic store, whose closure has been delayed until July.

Competes with traditional mass distribution and growth of local products or products labeled “high environmental quality” or “ “Pesticide Free”, businesses specializing in the sale of organic products have experienced a sudden slowdown in activity since the end of 2021. Even the market leaders, accustomed to double-digit growth over the years, saw their turnover fall in 2022: – by 5.6% to almost €1.5 billion for Biocoop (765 stores in France) and – by 7.8% to 355 up to a million euros for Naturalia (245). shops).

strategic shift

While players have noted the beginning of a market recovery in recent months, this change has forced them to put their expansion plans on hold. After opening thirty-eight stores in 2021, Naturalia plans to open thirty to forty in 2022. There were only twenty-three, twelve of which were existing businesses that joined the brand. and twenty-six were closed. Naturalia even announced a strategic shift in April, expanding its offering to include “good” and “healthy” products, for which “The organic label will no longer be a necessary prerequisite”. After fifty-two opening and thirty-six closings in 2022, its competitor Biocoop estimates that around forty stores will bring down the curtain in 2023 with seventeen set to open.

Biocoup Tallard, a rural town in the Haute-Alps, is one of them. The store closed in March, as did Rue Carnot in Gap, the department’s capital. “Our economic situation left us with no choice but to save the other two stores in Gap”, It was justified by the owners of the member of the network cooperative, on their website.