Some 8,000 jobs lost as 128-year-old retailer V&D is shuttered

"Disappointment in thousands of capital letters", is how union CNV refers to bankrupt retail chain V&D's collapse after nearly 130 years of business. The 62 V&D stores were closed from Monday. The plan to rescue the in-trouble retailer fell apart on Tuesday. And from Wednesday about 8 thousand employees are out on the street.

Supermarket chain Jumbo is also disappointed in the collapse. The chain took over the V&D restaurant chain La Place a few weeks ago. Now that V&D is closing, Jumbo is getting significantly fewer outlets - only those located outside V&D stores. "For La Place in the stores this is a missed opportunity, but we kept this in mind. Our acquisition of La Place was valued on restaurants outside the stores", financial director Ton van Veen said to the FD. According to the Volkskrant, Jumbo is investigating the possibility of keeping a few in-store restaurants open, despite the empty buildings surrounding it.

For the vast majority of the about 8 thousand V&D employees, this is the end of the road at the retail chain. Though a "few dozen" still have to help the bankruptcy curators in the coming weeks to close the chain neatly. According to the Volkskrant, that means the have to count the contents of the last cash registers, inventory the last stock, empty the stores and prepare everything for a final auction of the estate.

The final auction of the estate is very important to V&D creditors, at the amount raised by the auction will determine how much of their money they'll get back.