Last Wednesday in one of the iconic premises of the French Carrefour, attention was drawn to the movement of employees who were concentrated in an office. Minutes later They lowered the shutters of that large hypermarket and announced its closure to anyone who wore a monkey.
People could finish their shopping, they paid, but that Carrefour on Elcano Avenue between the prosperous neighborhoods of Belgrano R and Colegiales, which takes up half a block with underground parking, has closed forever. It had been built in 1995 and had belonged to the supermarkets of the North until it passed into the hands of Carrefour in the dramatic 2001.
For what happened, the land has already been sold to build buildings. Last November and at noon the procedure was the same in a hypermarket in Balcarce, in the province of Buenos Aires. This type of closure, with customers inside, they would debut in 2019 at the Avenida Congreso branch which also had a raised garden.
Sources at Carrefour claim that these are branches that “They didn’t deliver the expected result. Personnel are transferred or indemnifiedin case you don’t want to continue working”, they assure.
By the way, this Carrefour strategy never ceases to amaze. He faces it while they are fully operational. Some attribute it to try to prevent a predictable rebellion of the staff and therefore the surprise.
But chain sources point out that “they are moved by respect for the team and since the branches work from 8:00 to 22:00, the HR department informs that at that time, explaining how the roles will be reallocated”. They seem to convince ever since there are no protests and not even the union has expressed its refusal.
“The goal is not to interrupt, to favor proximity to the teams and to give them the certainty that they will be transferred,” they insisted before clarion.
Every step taken by Carrefour, considered the bible of supermarkets for its global leadership behind Wal Mart, is followed by its competitors. Until now They are the only ones who apply this type of closures.
The company led by Pablo Lorenzo, with birth certificate in Argentina and 27 years in the Carrefour group, has 620 stores and 17,000 employees in Argentina. With the fair price system, offered only in supermarkets, their participation has grown. And they launched a expansion plan in parallel with the closure of these branches.
Here’s how they will open this year 10 Maxi Carrefour in the wholesale format and another 30 Carrefour Express which are local shops, in addition to web sales bets which already represent 4% of their volume and are growing “exponentially”.
They say that most of the personnel is aimed at strengthening this segment both technologically and in order assembly.
Source: Clarin
