The French retail group Galeries Lafayette has announced the appointment of Ulrike Möslinger as a new director for its department store Galeries Lafayette in Berlin. She succeeds Philippe Hugot, who, after eight years in the position, is “taking up new professional challenges,” according to the group in a press release.
This is the first time that there is not only a woman at the head of the Berlin department store, but one who is not from France and who knows Berlin really well. The native Austrian and previous gourmet boss has been with the company for many years, since 1998, when she was initially responsible for purchasing and sales at Galeries Lafayette in Berlin and from 2005 took over marketing management there.
In 2011, Möslinger was then appointed international marketing manager at the head office in Paris, before she took on new tasks as marketing manager at Leder & Schuh International AG in Graz in 2016. However, she returned to Galeries Lafayette in Berlin in 2018 as a member of the management board and head of the gourmet department.
“I look forward to driving the development of Galeries Lafayette in Berlin. Now that we have survived the corona pandemic and the renovation of Friedrichstrasse is progressing, we are looking positively to the future,” commented Möslinger in the statement.
“Our top priority continues to be to offer our customers the best possible shopping experience with exclusive offers, the latest fashion trends, French specialties and exciting events in our store,” adds Möslinger.
In view of Galeries Lafayette’s increasing focus on the Asian market with planned new branches in China and India, the only German branch will not find it easy to assert itself, which is why the group put the management in the hands of the top manager.