Its grocery store replaces Auchan in the northern district of Clermont-Ferrand: “Residents need connections”

When the end of one story allows another to be written. In the Croix-de-Neyrat district, north of Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme), Hélène Nguyen knew how to embrace destiny and seize an opportunity that was more than joyful in her eyes and those of the residents. The latter saw, in May 2025, the Auchan hypermarket close, an economic and social psychodrama.

This announcement aroused strong local emotion. Nearly 200 jobs were lost and an entire life was lost. Since then, the store’s shopping arcade has also sounded hollow and local residents have lost a place to live where they used to meet. And rumors of possible buyers follow one another, without materializing. To the great dismay of those who are now nostalgic for the site.

“I saw the grannies roaming the streets with their carts,” Hélène Nguyen, a local child, has since noted. I told myself that we had to find a solution. »And yet, the Clermontoise with a “complicated educational background” was far from imagining being able to meet these new numerous needs.

After a career in catering which took her to large establishments near Geneva in Switzerland, the persevering forty-year-old wanted to become an entrepreneur, in Clermont-Ferrand, at home. “And there, I saw this room which was previously a reception room,” she remembers. I proposed the grocery store and living space project to the owner and he was immediately convinced. »

“Create a place of conviviality”

In November, the lease is signed. And the adventure, more than perilous, begins for Hélène Nguyen. “My mom told me to go for it,” she confides. That was my driving force and she also lent me her savings. I also made money selling clothes on the Internet to get started. » Since then, the multicultural grocery store called Wassana, in homage to the Thai culture of its founder, has welcomed customers from early in the morning to late in the evening.

Basic necessities, fresh food and also prepared meals to be eaten on site are offered. “Sorry, it’s a start so everything is perhaps not very tidy”, presents, with great humility, the Auvergne who does not count his hours and hopes to achieve financial balance within a year.

But, for now, the main thing is elsewhere. “I listen to customers and I realized that, since the closure of Auchan, they have been able to shop elsewhere by organizing themselves differently. So my grocery store can be used to help out but I really want to create a place of conviviality like the Auchan gallery was before. The residents need it. »

And, as a little revenge on life, Hélène Nguyen had the opportunity to present her career to the students of her former high school. The Clermontoise did not hold back from sending them numerous messages. “I was invited with another former student who had a model background,” she smiles. And there I was, the dunce. But I was able to show young people that, despite the difficulties, you can do very good things in your life. While not forgetting where we come from. »