This led to structural changes in those stores. For example, what we call the click and pick up system and the last mile with partners. Now this was a one-off investment at this point, but which has allowed us to benefit throughout this entire year. We also made investments in some of the older stores. Especially, when it comes to maintenance, it was important to do this in preparation for the summer season and the rainfall that we have every year. It was important to work with the roofing and air conditioning in some of our markets. And these are very practical issues that we worked with, and we will continue to work with perhaps in a parsimonious way, but working constantly on enhancements. What I would like to underscore, I don’t know if these are investments or expenses, when we look at investments, we made an expressive investments in the premium circuit stores.
These are the main stores that we have. These stores are, of course, outperforming the average of the Company by at least 7 percentage points, whether it is in sales or profitability. And of course, it is interesting for us to continue making investments for the entire base of stores beginning in the state of Sao Paulo, raising the bar of our stores, as we have had a very good response of the clients. Now we make investments wherever we deem we will have the necessary return for our business.
Operator: Our next question is from Fernanda from UBS. [Operator Instructions] Perhaps Fernanda has a problem with her audio. We’re going to continue with another question. Next question from an analyst from Bradesco BBI. [Operator Instructions] Felipe, you may proceed with your question.
Felipe Cassimiro: I would like to gain a better understanding of the same-store sales for the Pão de Açúcar banner. We had a sequential slowing down during this quarter. What is the cause of this? Is it the impact of the inflation? Or has the competition environment become tougher? Now, of course, we understand the need to invest to enhance the customer experience, especially in the city of Sao Paulo. My second question, if I could understand better from Rafael the CapEx line and the adjustments. How does this operate for the Company, it was not very clear for us? And the last question refers to the closing of 11 stores. If this is a one-off situation? Is it due to the profile of the stores, the location, or it truly is a one-off situation?
Marcelo Pimentel: Well, thank you, Felipe. When you look at the same-store sales, I don’t think of this as a slowdown. I think that it is a reality with a market that in the first quarter of ’24, we have stronger sales than when we began. We have begun to observe a gain not only in sales, but also in volume. We continue to grow volume. And here I would like to underscore that there is a deflation in several categories. We see inflation in some of them, but relevant categories in Pão de Açúcar, where we have gained share, we have gained in terms of volumes, such as the butchery, where the price of meat still does not enter any deflation. And we have to compare this with what is happening in the market. None of the market players will have a growth in same-store sales.
At the level though, we have been able to deliver. In a market scenario in general, we are performing better than the average of the market, of course. When it comes to the closing of the 11 stores, and then I will give the floor to Rafael to speak about CapEx. All of this is part of two different issues. Some of these closings are merely temporary. But we do need to report the closing. We have three or four stores in this store pool that are to be incorporated in residential areas. We’re predicting a period of 3.5 to 4 years with a store at the bottom of residential buildings. So these are merely temporary closings. We will re-inaugurate the stores. Another group of stores is part of a process of a revision of our performance. We’re in the midst of the turnaround process.
And as one of our practices, this is something that we do every month to revise the store performance and sales, of course. With all of the efforts that we have set forth, these stores perhaps will not have positive recovery. Therefore, we prefer to make the decision to close them down. And there is a part of the stores that after the entire year of ’23, where we worked towards their recovery, they still did not show any signs of improved performance, and that is why we decided to close down the operations, something that we do in a very natural fashion without changing our growth and profitability planning. Quite the contrary, we understand that by closing these stores, as the stores are relatively close ones to the other, the surrounding stores can end up capturing the sales, nevertheless.
