Carrefour abandons autonomous store model in condominiums

oh Carrefour They abandoned the model of autonomous shops in condominiums. Last weekend, 29 stores located in São Paulo and the city of ABC Paulista were closed in one fell swoop. The decision surprised residents. Most of the shops are in residential apartments, but there are also units in office buildings.

In a statement, the company confirmed, “The decision to close the operations of autonomous express stores in residential areas is guided by the company's business strategy.”

The move comes two-and-a-half years after the French company chose the autonomous condominium store model as one of its priorities. In February 2022, said Jono Gravata, the retailer's director of proximity Estado The plan for the year is to accelerate the opening of autonomous stores in residential complexes in conjunction with the expansion of conventional outlets under the Express brand.

The focus of the expansion will be Greater São Paulo, where the retailer will have carried out a mapping and identified the area as a good place to occupy. At the time, the retail chain had 14 standalone stores in operation.

Surprise

“It was a shock”, he sums up Tamara Agnolo, manager of Dez Anhaia Melo CondominiumsVila Prudente, east of São Paulo, consists of two towers and 444 apartments.

He says that last Saturday, the 5th, the Carrefour employee responsible for restocking the store's inventory notified the condominium reception that the store would be closed. “She locked the shop and put a notice on the door,” says the manager.

This unit had been operating in the condominium for a year and a half and had good traffic especially on Saturdays for Tamar.

The manager sent WhatsApp messages to the person at Carrefour responsible for the store, but as of this Thursday, the 10th, he had not received a reply.

“We have sent the contract to our legal department because there is a termination penalty clause that requires them to give 30 days' notice to close down their operations,” says the manager.

The condominium is already looking for other market options to occupy the space and has also been approached by other retailers aware of Carrefour's closure of operations.

For example, Hirota, which has been in the segment since July 2020 and currently has 133 autonomous stores operating in condominiums in the city of São Paulo, has been approached to replace Carrefour. “We have been approached by 12 condominiums and we are in the process of submitting a proposal,” he says. Helio Freddy, director of Hirota.

The retailer's goal is to reach 150 stores by the end of the year, with the existing Carrefour stores. 40 stores will be opened by December this year. Next year, another 30 units are planned. In four years, the company closed only 12 stores due to poor results.

Freddie notes that the main challenges of this business model are the logistics of supplying stores and the incidence of theft.

Among the most important retailers in the supermarket sector, Hirota is practically alone in this segment after the exit of Carrefour. GPAMambo, St.Marche and Sonda have not joined the wave of autonomous stores, where there is a strong presence of startups.

What went wrong?

Carrefour did not elaborate on the reasons that led to the abandonment of autonomous stores. According to counsel Eugênio Foganholo, Partner at Mixxer Desenvolvimento EmpresarialCarrefour specializes in bulk purchases for consumers through hypermarkets under the Carrefour banner or wholesale stores under the banner. Atakato. “The individual store model is strongly opposed to these.”

Counsel emphasizes that the volume of goods handled in a stand-alone store is completely different from a cash-and-carry store or a hypermarket. “People who are used to violent sales, when they have to do detailed things in the condominium, it's another business, another reality”, he argues.

Other retail analysts say the business of autonomous stores in condominiums is too small for a company the size of Carrefour, which generates more than R$100 billion a year. The relationship between the income generated by a business and the infrastructure required to operate it is not favorable. “At the end of the day, the company's cash flow remains very small for a company the size of Carrefour,” says an analyst.