Galeries Lafayette to Shutter Berlin Retailer

PARIS – Galeries Lafayette introduced Thursday it will shutter its Berlin division retailer after 28 years in operation.

Attributing the choice to “altering consumption habits in Germany and the very appreciable shift within the metropolis’s retail market,” the corporate advised social companions it will not renew the lease with property proprietor Tishman Speyer on its Friedrichstrasse retailer when it runs out on the finish of 2024.

The retail large’s chief govt officer Nicolas Houzé acknowledged the corporate “now not consider Galeries Lafayette is nicely suited to function in [the German] market” owing to “the profound transformation Berlin has undergone lately, which has affected the retail setting within the metropolis and led to the emergence of latest gamers.”

Situated in a glass-fronted constructing designed by Jean Nouvel, the Berlin Galeries Lafayette opened in 1996 and was the French firm’s first foray exterior of France. Situated within the metropolis’s central Mitte district, it boasted greater than 88,000 sq. toes of promoting house on 4 flooring and included a meals corridor.

The shop’s 190 staff will likely be made redundant, with the French retailer committing to working with worker representatives to help these affected by the closure.

Berlin’s deliberate closure is an additional step in Galeries Lafayette’s geographical shift, because it plans to open 20 shops exterior France by 2025, with a concentrate on China, Asia and the Center East.

It just lately unveiled a 48,000 square-foot retailer in Shenzhen, in a three way partnership with Hong Kong-listed actual property operator Hopson Group.

A retailer in Mumbai is slated to open in 2024, by way of a partnership settlement with native vogue group Aditya Birla Vogue and Retail Ltd., with additional plans for a New Delhi retailer.

The group additionally opened shops in Doha, Qatar; Luxembourg, and Shanghai, China, in 2019. Its outposts in Beijing and Shanghai are run with accomplice I.T Restricted, and Galeries Lafayette has introduced additional tasks in Macau and Chongqing. The group goals to have 10 shops in China by 2025.

Earlier this 12 months, Galeries Lafayette additionally mentioned it was in unique talks to promote the historic BHV Marais division retailer to Groupe SGM (which stands for Société des Grands Magasins), a family-owned agency specializing in city-center retail.