Restructuring underway

Food retail chain shrinks by 24 branches

Andreas Haider is the owner of the UniGroup based in Traun.

(Bild: Einöder Horst)

The logistics site in Graz-Seiersberg will be closed by the end of February 2025, 91 employees will lose their jobs and there will be a social plan for them - this was announced by the UniGroup from Traun (Upper Austria) on Thursday. The company spoke of comprehensive plans for restructuring and cost reduction that are necessary. The branch network has also already been cut back.

In February, the self-service concept called UniBox became history again, in September the Unimarkt store in Pucking slipped into insolvency, and now the end of the grocery store in St. Florian near Linz has also been sealed, which the company attributes to economic considerations and imminent investment requirements.

24 Unimarkt locations were closed this year
For small players such as the UniGroup, it has become difficult to withstand the cut-throat competition, the Upper Austrians say. Regional and high-quality products are being bought less, at the same time people are turning more to special offers, plus the intense competition with other supermarket chains and the enormous density of stores - all of this is putting a huge strain on Unimarkt.

"This doesn't make it any easier to operate stores successfully," says the company, which has shrunk its store network considerably over the course of this year. While 129 locations were still operating under the Unimarkt brand at the end of 2023, there will only be 105 on January 1, 2025 - a decrease of 24 stores.

Rumor mill bubbling over
It's no wonder that many are already singing the grocer's praises. The rumor mill has been buzzing in recent days. There was talk that the Unimarkt brand would disappear completely. "There's nothing to it," denies the company, which is part of the UniGroup in Traun, which also includes UniGroßhandel (including Nah&Frisch, Land lebt auf), UniLogistik and unik.

"Painful measures"
It was only on Thursday that the UniGroup, which is owned by Andreas Haider, announced the closure of the logistics site in Graz. 91 employees will lose their jobs. "We have to take painful measures to ensure competitiveness, but we are convinced that this will enable us to maintain the strength of the UniGroup in Austria," emphasizes Managing Director Johannes Aumann.