It's the end of Belgium's Makro stores. The doors closed forgood at 3 p.m. today. Yesterday evening was the last evening on which all articles were being sold out, but the store in Deurne had to close temporarily after a fight between two customers for a last article.
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Makro superstore in Deurne closed after fight between customers as chain sees "the end of an era"
Michaël Torfs
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It is the end of an era, after than half a century. There were six Makro superstores in Belgium selling a wide range of non-food and food products. Designed for self-employed people at first, it later became possible for everyone to go shopping there at discount prices. However, the chain went bankrupt. About 1,300 people are losing their job. Though they have been paid out correctly so far, they cannot count on a lot of redundancy money.
A sell-out was being staged over the last days and weeks, including major discounts. Staff told the VRT that many customers were one-off visitors lacking any form of respect, calling them "a kind of scavengers".
Incidents were bound to happen. Two customers started a fight in the Deurne store yesterday evening, fighting to get their hands on the same item. The store was evacuated as a result: all customers had to leave. On Wednesday, there was a serious discussion about the fact that only digital payments were possible.
The (almost) empty stores make a sad and desolate impression, with empty cans or packages in the long corridors or shopping carts left behind. "It is sad it has to end like this", says trades unionist Erik Dirckx. "The shops were bleeding to death. Local managers did what they could to organise things in a decent way, but the higher management just didn't care anymore."