Is it better to leave half-empty stores open or close them permanently? To this question, the French trader Noz gave a clear answer. At the beginning of September, this French brand, which claims 325 points of sale in France for a turnover of 550 million euros, surprised its customers by announcing the sudden closure of 24 of them.
As the LSA magazine points out, in recent weeks the regional press has periodically echoed new closures of Noz. In the west with those of Lorient, Le Mans or Saint-Brieuc, the Grand Est with the Forbach and Woippy stores or even in the north of the country with those of Lens or Courrières, one of the oldest in the group with its 22 years of existence
This hemorrhage follows a first salvo that took place last spring with the closure of at least five stores, including the one in Isbergues (Pas-de-Calais) that had reopened less than a year earlier after a first closure in 2020. Same disappointment for the one in Forbach on the Moselle. Closed in September 2020 due to the Covid crisis, the store located in the center of the city reopened with great fanfare in January of this year. The company had shared an enthusiastic press release on its site. Only to close it again eight months later.
Action and B&M’s offense
Would Noz face increased competition from two other cattle-liquidation giants, Dutch Action and UK-based B&M? The former opened nearly 700 stores in France in just 10 years and the latter, which bought the Babou brand, is already present in 110 municipalities with its concept of very large stores. But these two groups walk on the flower beds of the French Noz.
Like him, his range is mainly made up of liquidation products, end of series, unsold promotions, judicial liquidations or even short-term food products… Thus, there are decoration products, various equipment, make-up, textiles, groceries, DIY
An offer for which more and more brands are scrapping in the French market to offer a complete assortment to their customers. But while the market only had a handful of brands a few years ago (Noz, Centrakor and Foir’Fouille or Gifi), the arrival of foreign giants with purchasing power at a European level was out of step with the historic Noz.
The Lens store, for example, which opened just two years ago, saw the opening of a new Action store in Sains-en-Gohelle, just a few kilometers away. This is the fifth establishment of an Action in Artois, the Lensoise region…
“We learned it on Thursday for Saturday”
And whoever says fewer products inevitably says a decrease in activity. The historic Courrières de Pas-de-Calais store, which was one of the locomotives of the group, has lost 24% of its turnover since 2016. The store, which sold 6 years ago for more than 1.5 million euros of products , only sold more than 1.17 million in 2021, while the market for liquidation brands is booming (12 billion euros in France in 2021).
A setback for the store employees who sensed it coming.
Are these isolated cases or is it the brand created in 1976 by Rémy Adrion (fortune number 291 in France according to challenges) going through a global crisis? Very discreet, the group’s management did not want to answer.
However, at the end of last August it opened its doors to the chambers of the Capital de M6 praising the excellence of its buyers’ training, highlighting in particular the rewards offered to its buyers, cornerstones of the Noz empire. Bonuses, games organized internally (pedal kart races, etc.), rankings with, for the most successful buyers, discounts on yellow jerseys or polka dot jerseys… Nothing suggests that the group could experience difficulties. The future will quickly tell if these recent closures are a push or a drop to the bottom of the pack.
Source: BFM TV
