Thailand's 23 Central department stores are preparing to reopen their doors, implementing safety measures instore, when the government announces the easing of its COVID-19 restrictions for department stores. The concept 'Central Department Store: Clean, Safe & Comforting…Just Like Home' has 5 main principles covering 26 stringent hygiene measures to comply with government guidelines. Natira Chirathivat Boonsri, President of Central Department Store, said that in preparation for re-opening, Central Department Store recognises the importance of its hygiene processes and the safety of its customers and staff.

Read below the full list of 'Central Department Store: Clean, Safe & Comforting…Just Like Home' principles

'Central Department Store: Clean, Safe & Comforting…Just Like Home'

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In order to keep the social distance implemented because of the sanitary crisis, and yet host popular yearly events, the big three European Fashion Weeks have decided to go digital.

In late April, the British Fashion Council announced that London Fashion Week will go ahead in June, merging menswear and womenswear showcases to form a "gender-neutral platform". The digital-only event will take place between 12 and 14 June, when London Fashion Week Men's was slated to run. The content will be rolling out on londonfashionweek.co.uk.

In a similar move, the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana announced the organisation of a digital Milan fashion week: Milano Digital Fashion Week – July Issue. Set to take place from 14 to 17 July, the event will be dedicated to menswear collections for Spring/Summer 2021 and men's and womenswear pre-collections for Spring 2021. The Milan-based organisation will set up a digital platform, which will be accessible through its website, cameramoda.it, as well as a range of social media channels.

France's Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode announced that it is also in the process of developing a digital event for this June, "dedicated to image and communication." The Paris Fashion Week Online will take place from 9 to 13 July and present the menswear collections for Spring/Summer 2021. "Each House will be represented in the form of a creative film/video. Additional content will be included in an editorialized section of the platform. All of this will be widely shared on the main international media networks," explained the Fédération.

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IADS comments 13/05/2020

If there is one thing that we are not short of at the moment it is opinions and forecasts about what retail will look like after the pandemic. A few commentators maintain that we have short memories and that retail will revert to what it was like pre-virus. They differ only on how long it will take to get there (early 2021, late 2021 …). The majority, however, are busy explaining how retail will never be the same again. Most of these adhere to the view developed in an earlier version of this series that the covid-19 pandemic acts as an accelerator of already-existing trends. A version of the Warren Buffett comment that "when the tide goes out, you can see who has been swimming naked".

Download full report below:

The rise of the follower and the agile department store - A year without spring 4

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Departement stores and shopping centres are reopening in Spain, after one of the strictest lockdowns worlwide.

El Corte Inglés has shared a plan for the reopening of its locations, which lists all the measures taken to ensure safety of customers and employees. It includes health follow-up for employees, implementation of a 2-meter social distance and flexible hours to avoid too many entries and exits at the same time. Instore, hand sanitizer is available, people are required to wear masks, the traffic flow is regulated and extensive disinfection protocols are implemented among others.

See below all the measures taken by El Corte Inglés plan (available in Spanish)

El corte inglés reopening plan (in spanish)

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Debenhams will permanently close a further five of its department stores, all located in shopping centres owned by the property firm Hammerson, putting 1,000 jobs at risk. The latest closures to be announced, which include its stores in the Oracle shopping centre in Reading and in Birmingham's Bullring, means that 16 of its UK outlets will remain shuttered when lockdown restrictions are eased.

The retailer has been in negotiations with its landlords, and has reached agreement on 120 of its 142 sites, while the future of an additional six hangs in the balance.

The majority of Debenhams' staff have been furloughed, although its website has continued to trade.

Debenhams has previously used an insolvency process employed by other struggling retailers, known as a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), to enable it to cut rents and close unprofitable stores, including 19 shops which shut for good in January.

Since the coronavirus lockdown it has written to landlords asking for a five-month rent holiday and written to its suppliers to inform them they would be getting their money a month later than expected as it seeks to conserve cash.

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THE MALL GROUP NEW NORMAL

THE MALL GROUP NEW NORMAL : CHECK IN-OUT REGISTRATION

 THE MALL GROUP NEW NORMAL : PHYSICAL DISTANCING, HYGIENIC CLEANING, COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION

THE MALL GROUP NEW NORMAL : DEPARTMENT STORE POLICIES

THE MALL GROUP NEW NORMAL : TOUCHLESS RETAIL

Toronto-based luxury chain Holt Renfrew has reopened its store in Calgary. It will be followed by the reopening of the Vancouver flagship and Holt Renfrew Ogilvy in Montreal later this month, pending provincial government updates. The retailer indicated all the health precautions being undertaken against COVID-19. Prior to each reopening, stores will undergo a deep cleaning of all front- and back-of-house areas, and increased daily sanitizing will occur throughout the day in all high-touch areas. Other taken measures include: hand sanitization stations, gloves & face masks for the staff, physical distancing measures, reduced opening hours and all beauty services will adapt to be touchless.

Holt will also provide curbside pickups at valet stations and is continuing its Holts by Appointment service where customers can call the concierge to book a time with an associate before coming into the store. Additionally, a sales floor widget will enable customers to connect with associates for virtual assistance or to set up a one-on-one appointment in-store.

Read the full article below to see all the safety measures undertaken by the retailer:

full article: Holt Renfrew begins to reopen stores

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Century-old family business Galeries Lafayette has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Stores remain shut, tourists are not likely to return to the French capital anytime soon, consumption forecasts look dicey, and sales are expected to drop by 50% this year.

"It's important to recognize that we are going through something entirely unprecedented, unheard of — extreme — and for a company like ours that has a long history and has gone through difficult times, I think we can officially say that the worst crisis Galeries Lafayette has ever experienced is to have our stores closed for two months," said CEO Nicolas Houzé. "This has never happened to us in history, even in the worst moments that we've ever known — the Second World War, or other crises, we have always managed to keep business going, which hasn't been the case today," he added.

The French government has announced the gradual reopening up of nonessential business, easing lockdown measures in place since mid-March, in a bid to get the country's economic engines fired back up. The process kicks off May 11. "After spending two months thinking about business scenarios for the company, we are now focused on our objective of opening on May 11," Houzé said. "We quickly activated a plan for the return to business [...]" he said, citing discussions with employees and unions, and the need to reassure everyone, including clients, by sharing details of planned measures to ensure health and security. Such measures are becoming standard for retailers across the globe. "Making hand sanitizer available, requiring masks for employees as well as clients, installing Plexiglass in front of cash registers," he noted, ticking off the list of efforts.

The group is working to open nearly all of its Galeries Lafayette and BHV Marais stores, with the exception of flagships in shopping centers — French officials have said large shopping centers will remain closed for the first phase of easing restrictions, which will be revisited on June 2. With local and national authorities revisiting the issue every three weeks, Houzé is hoping that shopping centers will be allowed to reopen soon.

full interview: CEO Nicolas Houzé prepares the Galeries Lafayette for reopening

Tmall, China's largest business-to-consumer e-commerce platform, is getting into the outlet business. Designed to help brands accelerate their digital transformation, to liquidate stock and bring in a new source of revenue, Luxury Soho was unveiled on April 20. Named after the SoHo district in New York, the platform is a counterpart to Luxury Pavilion, which was introduced in 2017 and hosts a wide spectrum of luxury brands and retailers. Luxury Soho features quality products with competitive price points while protecting brands' premium images at their Luxury Pavilion stores. "Luxury brands have a specific product life cycle. As the main platform for brands' digital operation in China, Tmall provides solutions for different scenarios," said Weixiong Hu, vice president of Alibaba Group and general manager of Tmall's apparel fashion business unit. "In the future, luxury brands can open two different types of stores on Tmall. The official flagship stores that focus on the new products of the season are stationed in Luxury Pavilion and the official outlet stores that focus on discounted products can be put under Luxury Soho." Tmall said it hopes this channel can be a gathering place for the fashion-loving but price-sensitive Millennials and Gen Z shoppers. There will be short-form videos, live-streams and product recommendation content from key opinion customers. Top-tier brands, media and influencers will also be able to share fashion information.

Click here for more items on Alibaba

While the Haussmann flagship store is still closed, Galeries Lafayette is boosting its digital offer with a new personal, online luxury shopping service through live video. The "Exclusive Live Shopping" is highend and entirely personalised shopping experience, developed with GoInStore, a startup supported by the Lafayette Plug and Play program. Shoppers can access a large part of the luxury and premium range at the Galeries Lafayette flagship store from their homes via live video, with the assistance of a personal shopper or brand ambassador. The service is available through the web site galerieslafayette.com and covers 120 fashion, beauty and accessory brands. It is open to customers in France and abroad, with next day home delivery and click and collect purchases to fetch in the store.

press release: Galeries Lafayette Haussmann is launching "Exclusive Live Shopping"

website: Galeries Lafayette Haussmann "Exclusive Live Shopping"

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El Corte Inglés and the Gfi Group have completed a deal for Gfi to acquire 100% of the shares of Informática El Corte Inglés (Iecisa). The groups reached the agreement in December 2019, which was awaiting approval by the competent authorities.

Statement: El Corte Inglés completes the sale of Iecisa to French group Gfi

Switzerland department store chain Manor has implemented new safety measures instore to protect both staff and customers from the covid-19. The measures include: social distancing, regulated traffic flow, contactless payment encouraged, and extensive cleaning of certain areas (ex: cash desks). Corporate staff are required to keep the social distancing in the office, and virtual meetings are encouraged (even on site).

Read the full protection concept in French below:

Manor's protection concept [in French]

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From mid-March to early April, US department store chain Dillard's had closed all its 285 stores and began to furlough workers. This month, it has begun reopening stores, including 125 Dillard's stores and 24 clearance centers, operating the open stores at reduced hours.

"COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of our business," Dillard's chief executive officer William T. Dillard 2nd said in a statement. "The mall business in general and department stores, specifically, have been particularly hard hit," he said. "While our balance sheet was already strong, we took decisive — sometimes difficult — actions to preserve liquidity and ensure our long-term viability. As we reopen stores, we see positive things happening. We believe people are ready to get out and shop. We are hoping this is the start of better times."

In its first-quarter earnings release on 14 May, the Little Rock, Ark.-based department store chain reported that its total retail sales in the roughly three months that ended on May 2 had dropped by 47% to the previous year. The retailer said it experienced a net loss of $162 million in the first quarter, compared to a net income of $78.6 million the same time last year.

full wwd article: Dillard's Takes Stock of COVID-19's Impact

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The Mall department stores are still closed in Thailand, but the company is ready for the reopening. It has issues a statement dubbed 'A new normal happy handbook' to illustrate all initiatives taken in order to ensure safety of both staff and customers when stores reopen. Measures include: Touchless retail (contactless payment & services), face masks mandatory instore, temperature check before entering the store, social distancing.

Read the full Happy Handbook below

The Mall 'new normal happy handbook'

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Selfridges has reopened its food hall at its London flagship, but the rest of the store and its other sites in Manchester and Birmingham remain closed as the lockdown continues in the UK.

As food retailers are considered essential and can open during the lockdown, Selfridges said the reopening of Selfridge's London food hall comes with "stringent" strict social distancing measures to keep staff and customers safe amid the coronavirus pandemic. Opening its doors from 10am to 6pm (11am to 5pm on Sundays), the department store is (among other things) limiting the number of shoppers allowed inside at any one time, offering free hand sanitiser, protecting its staff with screens at the tills and implementing a one-way-traffic policy for customers coming in and out of the Foodhall. The staff will have their temperature scanned at the start of each day.

Along with fresh food, a range of household and pharmacy items will also be available.

Selfridges said it would offer NHS, health and social care workers easy access to the food hall with free use of the carpark, a dedicated entrance and fast track check out.

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Marks & Spencer is donating thousands of T-shirts bearing the message "We are the NHS" to dress doctors, nurses, staff and volunteers at the new NHS (National Health Service) Nightingale London hospital. Additionally, over 4,000 pyjama sets will be donated to NHS Derbyshire, a trust located close to the M&S Castle Donington distribution centre. Marks & Spencer said the PJs can be used as scrubs by doctors and nurses at NHS Royal Derby Hospital.

The food section of the department store is also making efforts to better support the National Health Service, offering a new, twice-weekly free food delivery service for NHS workers at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington and Great Ormond Street Hospital. This is in addition to an NHS special shopping hour, introduced at M&S stores three weeks ago to make it easier for NHS, emergency service and health and social care workers to buy the products they need.

US department store chain Lord & Taylor is exploring filing for bankruptcy protection after it was forced to temporarily shut all of its 38 U.S. department stores in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. It is one of several options that the retailer and its advisers are exploring, which also include trying to negotiate relief from creditors and finding additional financing, some of the sources said, adding that no final decisions have been made. The retailer was forced to let go most of its staff, including people from the executive team.

Fashion rental service start-up Le Tote acquired Lord & Taylor last year from Saks Fifth Avenue owner Hudson's Bay Company, which kept ownership of some of Lord & Taylor's real estate and assumed responsibility for its rent payments. A Le Tote spokeswoman said Lord & Taylor is working through various options and declined to comment further, while a representative for Hudson's Bay declined to comment.

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Galeria Kaufhof of Germany has placed itself under the protection of the bankruptcy law to help it survive. The group was apparently losing 80 million euros per week and has declared itself unable to pay rent. The bankruptcy law places the company under protection from creditors and the application has been granted by Essen District Court. Management of Kaufhof which employs 28000 people will attempt to restructure the company. IT has applied for government aid as well as help from banks but these latter have been too slow. The recent merger with Karstadt represented some hope for restructuring, but the closing of stores because of the virus epidemic has been the last straw. Owner René Benko has said he will provide financial help.

See article translated from German :

Galeria Kaufhof under bankruptcy protection

Since the lockdown a month ago, online demand for loungewear - defined as a hybrid between pyjamas and tracksuits - has soared 322% in the UK, according to LoveTheSales.com, a shopping website that aggregates sale items from 850 retailers. Online fashion retailer Boohoo says that sales in April are higher than a year ago. "People aren't really buying going-out items, but they are buying homewear - hoodies, joggers, tracksuit bottoms," the firm said. Many retailers such as Asos and Missguided are now advertising comfort wear instead of spring dresses. For struggling retailers, dressing down is a welcome trend, with loungewear one of the few categories currently growing. This time last year, people spent just over £1bn on clothes for parties and socialising and a further £855m on gear for their holidays, according to market researcher Kantar.

But now that many in Britain are adjusting to working in more relaxed attire, will it be tough to transition back to traditional work clothing? Or were we already heading that way? Tamara Sender Ceron, senior fashion analyst at Mintel, says: "Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, we had already seen that loungewear and nightwear had benefitted from a shift towards more flexible working over the last two years." Indeed, it is now common, for example, to see men not wearing ties in the office and sporting more casual suits.

full article: 'I returned my suits and spent £100 on joggers'

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U.S. consumer prices fell by the most in more than five years in March and further decreases are likely as the novel coronavirus outbreak suppresses demand for some goods and services, offsetting price increases related to shortages resulting from disruptions to the supply chain.

With the country virtually at a stand-still, the economy rapidly contracting and millions unemployed as state and local governments adopt stiff measures to control the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, economists are predicting the disinflationary trend will persist for a while or even a short period of outright deflation.

The Labor Department said its consumer price index dropped 0.4% last month amid a tumble in the cost of gasoline, and record decreases in hotel accommodation, apparel and airline ticket prices. That was the biggest drop since January 2015 and followed a 0.1% gain in February. In the 12 months through March, the CPI increased 1.5%, the smallest advance since February 2019, after accelerating 2.3% in February.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI dropping 0.3% in March and climbing 1.6% year-on-year.

Deflation, a decline in the general price level, is harmful during an economic downturn as consumers and businesses can delay purchases in anticipation of lower prices. It can also distort monetary policy, the labor market and signals from stock and real estate prices, economists say.

Economists believe the economy entered recession in March

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Full article: Large drop in US consumer prices

Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum has announced the closure of all shopping centers, department stores and non-essential businesses in city to limit the spread of coronavirus. Essential businesses including supermarkets, other food stores, pharmacies, gas stations and banks will remain open. Restaurants are limited to providing take-out to customers. Large public parks in the capital have also been shut down. Although their closure in the capital is obligatory, the department store chains El Palacio de Hierro, Sears and  Liverpool announced that they were closing all their stores across the country for a month due to the coronavirus pandemic and the government's declaration of a health emergency.

El Palacio de Hierro's online store remains open during the pandemic.

full article : Mexico City orders shopping centers, department stores to close

el palacio de hierro video: ESTAMOS TOTALMENTE CONTIGO

Department store group John Lewis is launching free virtual nursery, home and styling appointments for customers in isolation.

The one-to-one video appointments will provide advice, inspiration and support across three initial areas: nursery, home and personal styling. The programme will be expanded with further services, inspirational talks and learning sessions at the end of April.

The virtual styling services will see personal stylists from the John Lewis Style Studios support customers who have found themselves with extra time to declutter and organise their cupboards and drawers. The stylists will provide guidance on key staples, help customers re-discover treasured items and suggest new products.

Reassuring parents-to-be, nursery advisors will answer questions, discuss the best products and share advice on essentials during a virtual nursery appointment. Following the one-hour video call, customers will receive further information and a personalised shopping list via email.

Finally, the virtual home design service will help customers during lockdown by providing home inspiration, support and advice. Shoppers are encouraged to discuss everything from repurposing ideas to creating a workspace at home.

The launch of virtual home design appointments coincides with a surge in desk, chair and laptop sales as the nation adapts to working from home. John Lewis said it has also seen higher sales of crafting kids and puzzles, and a spike in demand for personal care items, particularly hair removal products.

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• John Lewis offers personalised fashion on Instagram

For more than a month, "non-essential" stores have been closed to the public to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, and many were limited to shipping online orders to customers' homes. On 24 April, Texas, the second-largest U.S. retail market after California, along with South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, started to reopen their economies. Several staffers at major retail chains, including J.C. Penney Co Inc and Saks Fifth Avenue, reported for duty at some Texas based stores, selling merchandise "to-go" for orders placed online. Even with curbside service, chains have sharply curtailed signature department store services. Makeup applications and spa services are unavailable, and personal shoppers cannot interact with clientele in person. They have been using Zoom, Instagram, text and email instead.

Penney, which is exploring filing for bankruptcy protection, offers curbside pick-up starting at certain store locations in Texas, including San Antonio and Dallas.

Dallas-based Neiman Marcus, which also is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection, allows customers to collect online orders, gift cards and alterations via curbside pick-up at all Neiman and Last Call locations in Texas. Upon arrival, an associate - wearing a mask and gloves - will deliver the product to the customer without making any contact.

Saks Fifth Avenue stylists and personal shoppers sent messages to Texas-based clients telling them they can schedule appointments to shop online and collect merchandise curbside, or make returns, at two Saks stores, one in San Antonio and one in Houston. The personal shoppers can also advise customers on what purchases to make, though not in person.

full article: Department stores offer curbside service as stores reopen

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