Intermarché Weighs Return to Flanders as It Expands

French supermarket group Intermarché is leaving the door open to a return to Flanders, the Dutch-speaking north of Belgium, as it presses ahead with an aggressive expansion built around a new urban store format. The chain on Tuesday opened its first Belgian “Intermarché Express” city store in central Brussels and said a Flemish comeback is “certainly not excluded in the long term,” according to Het Laatste Nieuws.

A store built for the city

The new outlet, at De Munt (Place de la Monnaie) in the heart of the capital, spans roughly 1,000 square metres and sits beneath a shopping centre next to De Brouckère metro station. It is open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The site occupies the location of a former Mestdagh supermarket, the franchise chain Intermarché absorbed as part of its 2023 takeover of 86 Belgian stores.

According to RetailDetail, the first Express store serves as a “laboratory” for the concept. Though the format is inspired by roughly 200 Intermarché Express outlets already running in France, this first Belgian location carries local accents and, noticeably, does not yet display the Express logo. It is operated by franchisee Mohamed Boukamir, a retailer with previous stints at Delhaize and Mestdagh who also runs stores in Uccle and Saint-Gilles.

Goal: 20 city stores and 400 jobs

Intermarché, part of the Les Mousquetaires group, aims to open around twenty city stores across Belgium by 2030, creating some 400 jobs. The company frames the push as an effort to grow stronger in urban centres, where neighbourhood supermarkets are proliferating.

“That is certainly not excluded in the long term. We look at it project by project. In the short term the focus is on Brussels and Wallonia,” a spokesperson told HLN when asked about Flanders. The region is Belgium’s largest by population and economic weight — and one where the chain currently has almost no presence.

Why Flanders is a hard market

Intermarché once operated in Flanders, but its last two Flemish stores, in Tienen and Aarschot, were closed and taken over by rival Colruyt a few years ago. A return would mark a genuinely new strategic chapter rather than a simple geographic extension.

Flemish retail is among Europe’s most competitive battlegrounds, pitting domestic players Colruyt and Delhaize against Dutch entrants Albert Heijn and Jumbo and German discounters Aldi and Lidl. Observers have flagged Intermarché’s Flemish ambitions as worth watching, though they do not see established players as being in immediate danger.

The Brussels convenience market is similarly crowded. The new Express store competes with Carrefour’s “Express” shops, Delhaize’s “Shop & Go” stores and Colruyt’s “Okay” city variant. As BRUZZ has noted, Brussels has a neighbourhood supermarket on average every 200 metres, driven by falling car ownership, a rising number of single-person households and a shortage of large retail spaces. Intermarché currently has eight stores in the capital.

A turnaround still in progress

The expansion comes after a turbulent integration. Intermarché’s 2025 Belgian revenue reached €1.97 billion, but the company posted a loss of €46 million, largely attributed to the Mestdagh acquisition and heavy investment in converting stores. Its national market share is just under 6%, though in Wallonia it exceeds 13% — third place behind Colruyt and Delhaize and ahead of Carrefour Belgium.

According to RetailDetail, the chain targets €3 billion in revenue and a 20% market share in Belgium by 2030, and aims to return to profit by 2027. Executives have described the Mestdagh takeover as “necessary to reach sufficient critical mass” in the country, even as the store count fell from 166 to 151 amid closures and some franchisee bankruptcies.

The urban concept leans on fresh and prepared food. “These are supermarkets adapted to the urban environment, with a much more extensive range of traiteur and on-the-go products,” chairman Laurent Boutbien said, per Franchising Belgium. Executive director Arnaud Meyrant added that the assortment will be tailored to serve commuters, students, tourists and local residents alike.

What to watch

The near-term test is whether the Brussels laboratory delivers. Intermarché says successful initiatives will be rolled out to its other Belgian stores, and several further urban locations are already in the pipeline for next year. Whether that momentum eventually reaches Flanders — and whether the chain can build brand awareness and recruit franchisees there — remains the open question.