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The Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo has set its sights on Geel. The company has submitted an application to build a new department store right next to competitor Aldi on de Pas.
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Will the Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo succeed in which the largest compatriot competitor Albert Heijn has not yet succeeded after an earlier attempt: opening a store in Geel? Jumbo has in any case applied for an environmental permit to build a completely new store on the Pas. The site is striking: the department store would be located right next to the large Aldi store and right opposite the entrance to Carrefour.
The retail property has a total surface area of 1,800 square meters, of which 1,500 square meters serves as real retail space. The supermarket would be equipped with a bakery and butcher’s department. The opening of the store would entail the employment of 42 people.
Community parking
However, a striking aspect in the permit application is the expansion of the large car park behind the retail building. “This will be a spacious, multifunctional parking lot for 122 vehicles that will be accessible to the public seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” says the client. “The parking is accessible to both supermarket customers and third parties, both during and outside the opening hours of the supermarket. The car park with eight fast charging stations for electric cars is therefore also useful for visitors to the center of Geel and for visitors to the underlying psychiatric institution OPZ (Public Psychiatric Care Institution, ed.). A soft pass is also planned to the OPZ. The car park is therefore at the service of the community.”
That caveat is not unimportant. The entire site is partly in a residential zone, partly in an area for community facilities and public utilities. The commercial building would be built in a residential area, the car park in the community facilities zone. In the application, the client also draws as trump card that the supermarket would be located just inside the ring road, and not as a new ‘track store’ on the Antwerpseweg across the roundabout with the ringlaan.
The Dutch chain wants to grow quickly in Belgium. Jumbo currently has six stores in our country, one of which is in Rijkevorsel. The following week, two more new branches will open in Zedelgem in West Flanders and Zonhoven in Limburg. The public inquiry into Jumbo’s construction plans in Geel started on Friday and will run until 24 July.
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