Department store chain de Bijenkorf expands luxury offer at Rotterdam branch

By

Shomara Roosblad

Published
Oct 10, 2018

Dutch department store chain de Bijenkorf will be expanding its luxury offer at its Rotterdam branch. In November the store will unveil a Louis Vuitton pop-up store, which will be followed by Valentino, Saint Laurent and Gucci shop-in-shops.

The expansion of the luxury range at the Rotterdam branch is part of the department store chain’s recent strategy, which was launched five years ago, writes Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. Starting then, the 148-year old retailer closed its smaller stores in Arnhem, Breda, Den Bosch, Enschede and Groningen. Under the leadership of current CEO Giovanni Colauto, de Bijenkorf invested €200 million in the seven remaining branches in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Eindhoven, Maastricht and Amstelveen.

“Our research shows that the Rotterdam branch also has potential for luxury brands. We noticed that not only visitors from abroad, but also our Dutch customers have a need for luxury items. They increasingly ask for it and we offer it. Rotterdam has enough inhabitants and attracts more and more visitors. We are positive about the possibilities,” Irene van Lieshout, head of purchasing accessories, shoes and watches at de Bijenkorf told the newspaper.

In addition, Van Lieshout told the newspaper that Dutch consumers account for 90% of the overall sales at the department store chain.

In recent years, the Rotterdam branch already added some changes to its range. In November 2017, the store unveiled the largest cosmetics department in the Netherlands. And, in April of this year, the branch introduced a new department for watches, jewelry and leather goods.

De Bijenkorf was founded by Simon Goudsmit in 1870 in Amsterdam. Since 2011, the department store chain has been part of Selfridges Group Limited.