Bar-le-Duc. Auchan store closes permanently: empty shelves and farewell drinks for employees

Tears, hugs, crestfallen, disillusioned faces. When the loudspeakers blared through the aisles of the Auchan hypermarket at 6 p.m. this Saturday, May 17, to announce the store's permanent closure, emotion was at its peak for the approximately two hundred people who came to support the employees in their ordeal.

"Today, we are closing a great book on the social life of Bar-le-Duc, more than fifty years of conviviality with an uncommon quality of relationship with our customers. We were a big family, it's a disaster for many," says Élisabeth, a cashier at the site since 1976.

"I had a fantastic professional life, I lived a great human adventure," adds the young retiree, who compiles souvenir photos on her cell phone, with her former colleagues, "like a procession."

Empty shelves are no exception. Since the Auchan group announced a major redundancy plan on November 5, 2024, resulting in 2,389...