Speaking of which – The Concept Store is opening a store in Berlin for the first time. The luxury fashion retailer’s eighth store is scheduled to open its doors in July, Apropos announced on Wednesday. At the same time, the fashion retailer also announced the appointment of a brand director for the first time.
The 870 square meter store is located in the Alhambra Berlin on Kurfürstendamm, a pioneering cinema from the Golden Twenties that has since been converted into a retail space by the Wertconcept Group. In the future, the store will present designer fashion for women and men, beauty products and design objects on two floors. There will also be a projection screen for playing films and a lounge area for customers.
In combination with the architecture of the building, which has six-meter-high ceilings and a large shop window front, the new branch should “offer customers extravagant experiences” and let them “immerse themselves in the unique Apropos world”, says Henning Korb, Managing Director Partners of Apropos. “We are very much looking forward to moving into this architectural rarity and bringing the retail space to life with our exclusive brand world.”
The expansion to Berlin follows existing branches in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich and Gmund as well as the recent opening of a store in Rottach-Egern am Tegernsee. The latest store opening aims to expand the company’s presence in the north-east of the country as well.
Speaking appoints first brand director
The newly created position of brand director, which was announced “in the course of continuous business expansion and the planned expansion of the brand world”, has been filled by the luxury fashion retailer with Pepe Burkhardt. Burkhardt, who was previously head of communications at the “Mercedes Benz Fashion Week” organizer Nowadays for the “Berliner Salon”, has been working as an external consultant for Alhambra since 2019. He has held the position of Head of Marketing there since May 2021. Burkhard will start his new role next February.
Alhambra Berlin plans to rent out retail space on a long-term basis
The Alhambra Berlin was initially advertised as a mix of event space, gallery, retail space and showroom and was scheduled to open last fall. Now the 1000 square meter area has been divided into two parts, for which long-term tenants are being sought. The 870 square meter area is rented to Apropos. The much smaller area of around 250 square meters was originally intended for pop-up stores, but the family-run real estate group behind Alhambra Berlin is also looking for a long-term tenant for these, according to a statement on Wednesday. With the rental of the space, the Wertconcept Group appears to be deviating from the concept for the Alhambra Berlin announced last year, the reasons for this are currently unknown.
Editor’s note: This post was updated at 5:40 p.m. on 2 November 2022 with more background information.