Mercadona closes Salt store amid persistent thefts

Mercadona closes in Salt: persistent thefts shut down a supermarket

Juan Roig’s supermarket chain in Salt (Girona) has closed its doors. The reason cited in reports is continuous shoplifting at the location. This is not an isolated case: recently, stores in areas with security issues have been closing, and Salt has all the elements for this pattern to repeat.

The Girona municipality has a per capita family income lower than most Andalusian cities, according to INE data. This is significant: the combination of low purchasing power and high migrant population density has made Salt a hotspot for commerce. The supermarket chain, which has always defended its efficient store model, has faced disproportionate security costs for a store of this type.

The security bill: a cost that doesn’t match the margin

Security workers in Catalonia explain that the chain pays well for private guards in the most problematic stores. This extra cost proves that the risk of theft, or worse, has become a structural expense. When this expense eats up the margin of an average supermarket, the business decision is cold: close it and move the investment elsewhere.

There is another Mercadona 850 meters away. This figure, provided during the coverage of the closure, helps mitigate the impact: residents are not left without a shopping option in the area. The problem, however, is symbolic. If a large supermarket abandons a neighborhood due to insecurity, the message sent to other retailers is devastating.

A budding food desert?

The concept of a “food desert,” imported from the United States, has gained prominence. It refers to neighborhoods, often poor with high migrant populations, where there are no supermarkets selling fresh products at reasonable prices. The concern is that Salt trinc this path: if large chains leave, only small establishments run by merchants of the same origin as the population will remain, who may not always offer a complete basket of goods at competitive prices.

The comparison with Ceuta has become common. The autonomous city has made headlines for attacks on shops and the presence of military personnel guarding the entrance of a Carrefour. This is the extreme of the same story: commerce that is fortified, hires private security, or closes. The difference is that in Ceuta, this phenomenon is seen as exceptional, while in areas of the Barcelona metropolitan area, such as Salt or neighborhoods in L’Hospitalet, it has already become normalized.

The future: online shopping and armored deliveries

Online shopping appears on the horizon as a relief valve. Distribution from logistics centers, with armored vans and security companies, is presented as the future for areas that physical commerce abandons. It is not science fiction: some chains are already testing deliveries with escorts, and the precedent of the El Corte Inglés group with its security subsidiary SICOR suggests that outsourcing risk may be a business in itself.

Ultimately, the underlying question is not whether Mercadona should have stayed or left, but whether this country has decided to normalize that certain areas are excluded from the ordinary commercial circuit. Salt’s per capita income is not an accident: it is the result of decades of policies that have concentrated poverty and lack of opportunity in a few municipalities. Until the economic and social root is addressed, the next closure may be closer than thought.