The two-storey store is the last C&A retail outlet in Luxembourg City Maison moderne/archives

The two-storey store is the last C&A retail outlet in Luxembourg City Maison moderne/archives

The ready-to-wear brand, headquartered in Germany, had already closed its store on Place Guillaume II last March. The site will be transformed into a Monoprix within a few weeks.

Although that closure didn't result in any layoffs, the situation remains uncertain for the 11 employees of the C&A of avenue de la Gare. “We're still in discussions,” says David Angel of the OGBL trade union's retail branch.

The two-storey store has been suffering from a lack of investment from its parent company, according to Angel. The Gare district has experienced a wave of other store shutterings in recent months, with the departure of Veritas and H&M last summer, then Z and Chaussures Goedert, scheduled for the end of this year.

C&A still has seven remaining locations in the grand duchy, though its only high street store is the outlet in Esch-sur-Alzette.

Two other outlets, those of Foetz and Sandweiler, are located in retail parks, while four others are located in shopping centers--Belle Étoile, Topaze in Mersch, Knauf in Pommerloch and Schmiede.

According to Statec, C&A employs 130 people in Luxembourg. The company was founded in 1841 in the Netherlands and has been operating in the low-cost clothing segment since the beginning of the 20th century. It opened its first store in the grand duchy in 1982 and expanded its network to 1,000 locations worldwide in 2006.

Nevertheless, the company has experienced setbacks since the beginning of the century: in 2001 it closed its last store in the UK, a market where entry-level ready-to-wear giant Primark is particularly well established.

This article was originally published in French on Paperjam.lu