Dutch department store De Bijenkorf closes 2021 with an operating loss of 33.3 million euros. But the luxury department store also has good news: last year’s sales were almost ten percent higher than in 2020. De Bijenkorf is also positive about the future; the company expects to achieve better results in 2022 than in the years leading up to the coronavirus outbreak.
According to the company, part of the loss is due to the corona lockdowns last year, during which the seven branches in the Netherlands had to remain closed for weeks. CEO Giovanni Colauto said on Wednesday when the annual figures were announced: “The second Corona period has forced us to show inventiveness, creativity and resilience. This attitude has paid off.”
The number of online visitors rose by ten percent, which was reflected in an increase in online revenue by ten percent. Bijenkorf has seven stores in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Eindhoven, Utrecht, Amstelveen and Maastricht. There are webshops in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Austria. New webshops in Monaco and Luxembourg were opened in 2021.
Bijenkorf belongs to the parent company Selfridges. The company was taken over by the Austrian Signa Holding and the Thai Central Group at the end of last year. The acquisition, which includes department stores in the UK, Ireland and Canada in addition to Bijenkorf, will be completed in the coming months. The new owners are expected to invest heavily in de Bijenkorf’s department stores and webshops. The strategy begun among Selfridge owners to focus on luxury products and high affluent customers is likely to continue.
Experts think this is a wise decision. Globally, luxury stores are doing better than mid-market retailers. In 2020, De Bijenkorf took out GO funding, a loan with guarantees from the Dutch government, to get through the Corona crisis. It was a €30 million loan for which the government would provide an 80 percent guarantee in the event of the company’s bankruptcy. Last year, the company repaid $11.25 million on that loan. In addition, the luxury department store has received loans from its former parent company Selfridges and banks of 10 and 26 million euros. The company expects that the new owners will assume or pay off these loans.
This translated post is written by Judith Munster and previously appeared on FashionUnited.nl.