Today, the first BIO-planet was added to the growing portfolio of supermarket real estate. This store is well located at Sint-Pieterskaai 53 in Bruges, near the Fun, the Gamma, and Retail Park Veemarkt (Colruyt, Aldi, Leenbakker and Bristol), on a 2400 m² site.
This BIO-planet has a retail area of approximately 1000 m² with a wide and visible facade of 25 m. There are about 55 parking spaces.
Organic foods are becoming increasingly popular with Belgian consumers. Last year, Belgian families spent 586 million euros on organic products. That is an increase of 12 percent in one year and more than twice as much as in 2008. Organic is steadily gaining market share in the food market. The segment has been growing much faster than that of non-organic products for many years. The total food market saw growth of only 1.9 percent last year.
“It is true that in recent years there has been much more interest in organic products”, says Jo Ghilain of BIO-Planet, a subsidiary of Colruyt where only organic products are sold, in De Standaard of 7 July. “We have doubled the number of shops from 12 to 25 in two years’ time, and we plan to open three every year. In Belgium, there is room for about sixty Bioplanets.”
The purchase of the real estate of this BIO-planet, therefore, fits particularly well with the E-commerce-resistant investment strategy of Ulvenhout Retail Invest Fund. This acquisition strengthens the fund’s position as one of the largest private real estate funds in Belgium that invest in neighbourhood supermarket real estate. The fund generates more than 8 million euros in rental income annually.
For more information about this transaction, or about Ulvenhout Retail Invest Fund, please contact us here.