The Municipality ordered the closure of more than ten supermarkets Dia% of La Plataafter inspectors from the Secretary of Citizen Control will detect serious irregularities in their qualifications. Those in charge of these spaces presented all the documentation to function as warehouses, but warned that it was a “undercover” franchise of Día%. Several of the closure orders have already been executed, so this Thursday the premises were closed.
The situation came to light as a result of an investigation promoted by the Citizen Defender of La Plata, Marcela Ferroni. in dialogue with 0221.com.arexplained: “We began to act on this issue because we received a note from the Chamber of Supermarkets so that we observe what happened with some stores that opened very abruptly in less than a year. They are very pretty on the outside, but when you entered, there was all the Dia% merchandise and their employees were dressed as Dia% and at the checkout they offered you the company’s card. And their offers were those of the chain”, he stressed.
In this sense, he pointed out that “the situation drew a lot of attention” because franchises are not allowed in the city. “When Dia% opened, at the time one of the issues was that it open without franchises. We began to observe that it was a covert franchise that is the “Super in your neighborhood” or “Discount in your neighborhood”he added. And he pointed out: “The lack of control of the Authorizations Department also caught our attention.”
Farroni explained that together with his team they followed the issue closely and noticed that “Requests for authorization were made through warehouses and other names, which is why it did not attract attention”. “We investigated and asked Citizen Control if it could carry out the corresponding inspection of these warehouses, which are functioning as supermarkets. There were items that you do not sell inside a store and the entire building part, ”he completed.
Likewise, the local Ombudsman indicated that in these premises “fruit, vegetables, perfumery and other items that are not authorized for a store were sold.”
It was so that several of these places were closed in the last hours by agents of Citizen Control. One of them is the “Super de Barrio” on Avenida 7 between 40 and 41 that this note depicts, but the head of the Ombudsman’s Office also mentioned the of 48 between 14 and 15; 66 between 8 and 9; Centennial Road and 503; and diagonal 74 and 56. “We raised one with more than ten stores that were enabled as warehouses but we believe that they are undercover franchises”.
Now, those in charge must appear in the Missing Justice to clarify the situation corresponding to the authorization they requested. “They asked to function as warehouses and in reality they are supermarkets and all their staff are affected by Dia%”, added the official, who also remarked that the closure “does not mean that they are going to close.”
“We want to clarify that well, no business is going to close, from now on we want them to be updated to what the ordinance says, and that they were enabled as warehouses to function as such.” he concluded.