Under the leadership of Minister of Economy Willy BORSUS, the Government of Wallonia is stepping up its commitment, through the Plan Horizon Proximité, to revitalise the hearts of our towns and villages.
The Government of Wallonia has made the revival of town centres and local shops a priority. The fact is clear: the number of empty commercial units in Walloon town centres reached 20% in 2023. To prevent this situation from becoming structural, the Government of Wallonia is strengthening the Plan Horizon Proximité.
Solid measures
As part of Wallonia's recovery plan, the Government had already taken ambitious measures to address the pressing challenges facing the sector. The strengthening of two measures in the Plan follows this same approach, with the main aim of making our town centres attractive and dynamic once again.
For Willy BORSUS: "Local shops are going through difficult times. It is essential to support commercial activity at the heart of our town centres. Through all these measures, we want to create a knock-on effect and see new shops opening in our cities, municipalities and villages."
1. Expansion of the Formaction-Commerces programme
The Formaction-Commerces programme, a diagnostic and training tool for Walloon retailers, is taking a new step in its commitment to local economic vitality. Run by Forem and IFAPME, this free programme offers tailored support to local shops, helping to boost their development and resilience.
This audit takes place in three stages: a self-assessment of the shop's commercial performance, followed by a tailored training plan and concluded with an assisted in-store evaluation, which helps build a concrete action plan with personalised coaching.
Five criteria are taken into account: appeal, customer acquisition, conversion, customer relations and sales optimisation.
This programme benefits from the support of local and regional economic development players as well as other training and economic support organisations such as IFAPME, UCM, SNI and AdN.
At its launch, this initiative aimed to reach between 500 and 600 shops in Wallonia over a three-year period, with a focus on 15 Walloon town centres for personalised coaching: Ath, Aywaille, Bastogne, Charleroi, Ciney, Hannut, La Louvière, Liège, Louvain-la-Neuve, Malmedy, Mons, Namur, Waremme, Waterloo, Wavre.
Just seven months later, this project is enjoying impressive enthusiasm and success:
- 131 completed self-assessments;
- 110 in-store diagnostics, of which 30 completed and 80 already scheduled;
- 31 in-store coaching sessions carried out or scheduled by June.
Extension of the list of towns and municipalities eligible for assisted coaching
The tragic floods of July 2021 also hit many local shops hard, particularly in the worst-affected areas.
To meet their current needs, the Formaction-Commerces Programme is now extending its personalised support to 9 new town centres severely affected by the floods, for the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2026: Chaudfontaine, Esneux, Eupen, Limbourg, Pepinster, Rochefort, Theux, Trooz and Verviers.
This initiative complements the "Restart Shop" project, launched at the end of 2021, and aims to offer comprehensive support to affected retailers, including advice, training and resources to help them overcome the challenges of recovery, better face future challenges and strengthen their resilience.
An additional budget of €870,000 will allow personalised support to be rolled out in these 9 new town centres, bringing the total number of beneficiary centres to 24 by 2026.
2. "Objectif Proximité" scheme
Wallonia is reaffirming its commitment to the vitality of town centres through the "Objectif Proximité" scheme. This well-established programme, which supports the setting up and relocation of shops in the heart of our towns, is being strengthened to meet current challenges.
Two components, one vision
As a reminder, "Objectif Proximité" aims to support the establishment or re-establishment of shops in the centres of 100 Walloon towns and municipalities.
The scheme comprises two components:
- "I'm setting up": aimed at supporting the establishment of new shops in empty commercial units, based on an identification of unmet needs carried out by participating municipalities.
- "I'm reinventing myself": intended for existing retailers wishing to reposition themselves and/or evolve their business model to secure their long-term presence in town centres, attract new customers... All while meeting the needs of the centre in which they operate.
Based on the 2017 Créashop-Villes scheme, the amount of the Objectif Proximité grant (€6,000) is no longer considered sufficiently attractive for project holders. Aware of these challenges and keen to offer more substantial support, the Government of Wallonia has decided to increase the aid granted under the "Objectif Proximité" programme. As a result, the maximum grant amount will now be raised to €7,500 from this year, 2024.