MILAN – The difficult financial system impacting the posh business and the journey retail sector is main DFS Group to shut the industrial actions of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi retailer in Venice.
The sprawling unit first opened in 2016 and was on the time the primary DFS retailer in Europe.
In an announcement on Friday issued from DFS’s Hong Kong headquarters, the group stated the “tough choice” was made after “cautious consideration” and that it will not renew the lease that ends by September 2025.
It is usually a transfer that’s “a part of a worldwide restructuring” of DFS and pointed to “very tough” outcomes out of the Venice retailer.
DFS is aiming to maintain the shop throughout a part of the primary half of 2025.
“On this transition part, our major aim is to reduce the social influence for our devoted workforce,” the assertion stated. “We’re dedicated to maintain our staff knowledgeable all through the method, working intently with the unions and with the related authorities,” because the closure will influence 226 staff.
DFS Group is a Hong Kong-based journey retailer. Based in 1960, its shops are current in main international airports and within the coronary heart of the town facilities and is majority-owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
It’s a part of LVMH’s selective retailing division, which — alongside Sephora — contains Le Bon Marché, Samaritaine Paris, La Grande Épicerie de Paris and 24S. The department registered gross sales of 8.63 billion euros within the first half of 2024, up 3 p.c in reported phrases and eight p.c on a like-for-like foundation versus the identical prior-year interval.
Simply as adjustments are sweeping by means of the C-suite of LVMH, most just lately shaking up its wine and spirits division, DFS Group is in a transitional part.
As reported, Benjamin Vuchot, chairman and chief government officer, is leaving DFS and was succeeded on an interim foundation by Ed Brennan on Nov. 1.
In 2023, the worldwide journey retail market generated $72 billion, up 18 p.c year-over-year. Magnificence remained the most important class, making 36 p.c of the entire, at $25.8 billion, in keeping with Era Analysis.
Venice has been impacted by the dearth of vacationers from China following the pandemic, a cluster that’s now touring to Japan and the Asia-Pacific area. The yen has been weak towards the euro, which has additionally discouraged Japanese spending in Italy.
In keeping with the Altagamma-Bain Worldwide Luxurious Market Monitor 2024 introduced in Milan on Wednesday, international luxurious spending is anticipated to achieve gross sales of almost 1.5 trillion euros in 2024, a 2 p.c lower in contrast with 2023.
The Fondaco dei Tedeschi retailer opened with excessive expectations and numerous media consideration , additionally given its distinctive location, in a Thirteenth-century constructing restored by the proprietor, the Benetton household’s Edizione, with Rem Koolhaas and his architectural studio OMA. The interiors had been designed by Jamie Fobert, celebrating the town’s treasures by way of carpets, tapestries, shows and fixtures that included parts of Venetian artwork and structure in a refined manner.
Through the years, it has carried manufacturers starting from Gucci and Burberry to Bulgari, Max Mara, Ferragamo and Cartier, to call a number of.
Fondaco dei Tedeschi appears to be like onto the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, and the landmark constructing was initially a commerce home for silk and spices between East and West. With 75,600 sq. ft of retail area, it’s the second-largest constructing in Venice.
From its earliest days as a warehouse and market for German retailers by means of to its time as a customs home underneath Napoleon and its most up-to-date incarnation because the Venice publish workplace, the constructing has at all times been a spot the place folks collect. When a fireplace destroyed the location in 1505, it was rebuilt within the Palladian type utilizing classical Roman rules of development.
