After a long wait, the Westfield Hamburg-Übersekartier opened its doors last week, but Hugo Boss’s store was closed.
The Metzingen fashion group decided not to realize the originally planned business on the ground floor of the shopping center, the company confirmed on Monday at the request of Fashionunited. The industry magazine had previously reported textile industry on the decision.
Hugo Boss cited the multiple shifts of the general opening of the overseas district over the past twelve months as the reason for the cancellation. Based on these delays, the company decided to refrain from opening the store.
The shopping center operated by the Real Estate Group Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) was always confronted with significant problems and challenges before its official opening on April 8th. Urw had also been sharply criticized for the conditions on the construction site in the past. In October 2023, five construction workers died in an accident at work.
The opening of the Center for April 2024 was originally planned. But after the penetration of groundwater into an area of the basement – in which a central technical system is located – the commissioning had to be postponed. The new opening date in August could also not be observed, whereupon the opening was moved to mid -October. Another date that had to be canceled again.
The late opening of the retail area is said to have led to additional costs of an estimated 100 million euros, which were incurred by the extended construction period and compensations for the tenants: inside.