German supermarket Rewe is closing its organic chain Temma after the business failed to meet the group's sales expectations in certain areas of Germany.
At the end of January seven of the chain’s nine stores will be sold, with the other two continuing as specialist organic stores, Cologne newspaper the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger reported.
The first Temma branch opened in 2009, and since then shops have been added in Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Berlin among other cities in Germany.
Rewe wanted to appeal to shoppers nostalgia for small neighbourhood shops or market stores with its Temma stores, which feature cheese, meat and antipasti counters, as well as a catering section.
But according to the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, stores performed variably in different regions of Germany and did not meet the expectations of Rewe’s management.
It is understood the Temma stores in Barunsfeld and Bayerthal will be sold to former Rewe manager Christiane Speck, who co-developed the concept.
Rewe is now looking to expand the organic section of its own supermarkets.
