Barneys, owned by hedge fund manager Richard Perry is apparently exploring bankruptcy after a steep increase in its rent at the Madison Avenue flagship starting in January 2019. However, the company providing maintenance, cleaning and housekeeping has suspended its work with the retailer which owes it over $500 000. The store is still operating with merchandise being delivered but some toilets are closed and rubbish is not being taken out.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the store shifted upmarket to offer new luxury brands. An EBITDA of $ 37.9m in 2017 on sales of $829m was expected to be up last year, making an operating profit of 4.6%. Online sales have been increasing, up 19% on the year, but are still short of projections, and average order value is down. The tipping point has been the 72% increase in rent in New York.

read bof article: What Pushed Barneys to the Edge

British retailer Debenhams, which is undergoing a major restructuring, is focusing on its beauty community and retail experience. Beauty accounts for 25 percent of Debenhams' overall sales per year, or around 600 million pounds. The management wants to focus on creating a flexible and dynamic space off-line and online, by creating new, zoned spaces, or labs, instore that are flexible and do away with the traditional beauty aisle design. Shelves have replaced beauty counters to create more open space. Among the shelving units are tables for customers to play with products. The department store will also be rolling out new product categories such as skin care, hair care, men's grooming and a minibar area that stocks travel-sized or miniature-sized versions of products. The store wants customers to try items risk free and without investing in the full-sized product. To encourage experimentation, Debenhams sales staff have been trained across all product categories — instead of by a specific beauty brand — in order to mirror the store's online beauty community and forum. The department store will roll out its new "lab" space concepts across 20 medium-sized stores by the end of the year.

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El Corte Ingles has announced the appointment of Marta Alvarez as chairman of the group. Jesus Nuño will remain as chairman and CEO of the subsidiaries and Victor del Pozo will continue as CEO of the group with executive duties over corporate and business areas. Marta Alvarez in the largest shareholder of El Corte Ingles, along with her sister Cristina Alvarez, and she will oversee the two CEOs : Jesús Nuño de la Rosa will remain as chairman of Viajes El Corte Inglés, Seguros El Corte Inglés, Informática El Corte Inglés and Financiera El Corte Inglés and will continue as CEO of the group's subsidiaries.

On the other hand, Víctor del Pozo will be the CEO of corporate areas (economic-financial, real estate, human resources and legal services, among others) and for the retail business areas, including the Supercor, Bricor and Sfera companies.

The structure follows its good corporate governance model and ends a period of reflection started in 2018.

press release: "El Corte Ingles appoints Marta Alvarez as chairman"

Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores has announced that it has been certified by China's Tencent Holdings as a flagship department store operator for its WeChat Pay smartphone payment app. Hankyu Hanshin, based in the western Japanese city of Osaka, became the first to acquire the status among department store operators outside China. Tencent operates WeChat, China's biggest messaging service.

On the same day, the Japanese firm, a unit of H2O Retailing Corp, launched a campaign that allows customers to use discount coupons they get from its official WeChat account at nine Hankyu Hanshin stores. The campaign will run until 15 September.

It also started a service enabling those who order cosmetic products through WeChat to receive them at the Hankyu Umeda main store in Osaka.

Takashimaya of Japan has announced it would close its store in Shanghai on 25 August. The announcement came soon after Carrefour sold an 80% stake of its Chinese business to Suning.com. Takashimaya, founded in 1831, operates 17 stores in Japan, and one each in Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It entered China in 2012 in Shanghai's affluent Gubei area, and has made a loss for seven consecutive years. According to commentators, only some areas of Shanghai are appropriate for luxury retail. These include Nanjing Road West, Huaihai Road East and Lujiazui area in Pudong where Galeries Lafayette is now present.

The election of Boris Johnson as leader of the UK conservative party which makes him UK Prime Minister has been greeted around the world with what can only be described as a degree of fear. The BBC says that "his political inheritance has all the makings of a disaster". Indeed, he has no majority in the Parliament; has no mandate from the general public; and has policy problems everywhere: he has to solve Brexit with a reluctant EU and a divided party, and has deep-seated problems at home. For Le Monde in France, Johnson is "known for his eccentricity, his elastic positions, his narcissism and his lies". According to Libération, he advances by the seat of his pants, "like a chameleon, adjusting his positon according to the moment". In Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung calls him "the clown who wanted to be king of the world" and mentions his nonchalance and complete unpredictability. Der Speigel predicts that as soon as he stands in front of the door at number 10 Downing Street (the Prime Minister's residence), "he will begin breaking his promises". The Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad said that he will soon find out that "what he promised as a candidate cannot be achieved as prime minister". And the Irish Times despairs: "How far can Britain fall?" it asks. "The Brexit debacle has already left the country bitterly divided, its parliament paralysed, its influence diminished, its reputation shattered. Now, a new nadir: Boris Johnson is set to become prime minister. That means things could still get a lot worse". Denmark's Politiken talks of a future which could become even more "unpredictable and chaotic" under the new prime minister "who looks like a man who has slept in his car". Even Spain's El Pais recognises that few prime ministers can have faced "such a complex and urgent challenge since the first day of their term" and warns that "reality will be tough… in a job in which all blunders and scandals will carry real-world consequences".

For UK retailers, the key issues are Brexit and business rates. On Brexit, the Financial Times predicts that any renegotiation with the EU on his stated terms will end in deadlock, forcing him to pursue a no-deal Brexit. "The cost of no deal", it states, "will be seven times larger for the UK than for the EU 27". Brussels has also rejected claims that World Trade Organisation rules would allow for seamless trade after no deal. Analyst Global Data said: "the most pressing issue for retailers remains clarification on Brexit both in terms of timing and the nature of the withdrawal". A number of retailers have expressed worry about the pressure on supply chains and storage coinciding with Halloween and the busy Christmas period. Supplies of food, toys, and pharmaceuticals have been mentioned. The new government will also have to stimulate consumer confidence which has been falling and is expected to worsen as we approach the October deadline. As if this were not enough, UK retailers are becoming more vocal about the destructive impact of business rates on physical retail, and the British Retail Consortium has said that it does not expect Boris Johnson to make the changes that retailers require. Studies from both Deloitte and KPMG/Ipsos this week suggest that both consumer confidence and retail health are close to record lows.

See Financial Times Leader on Boris Johnson

See Women's Wear Daily on Boris Johnson and fashion

The success of chairman Richard Baker's $1.3bn bid to take the company private depends on whether an independent valuator will see it as more a retailer or a real estate company. Baker has offered C$9.45 a share for the remainder of the company of which he holds already 57%. Some shareholders, however, say they value the company's assets at between C$28 and C$33 a share. The difference is due to disagreements on how much of Hudson's Bay real estate can be divested while keeping it operational. Selling off property raises cash but makes it more financially burdensome for the company to rent the space for the stores it operates. A special committee including the Toronto Dominian Bank, has been granted power to prevent any deal. A similar committee recently rejected attempts by the Nordstrom family to take the company private.

Husdon's Bay operates 39 Saks Fifth Avenue, 133 Saks OFF Fifth, 40 Lord & Taylor, 90 Hudson's Bay department stores and 37 Home Outfitters due to close this year.

Nordstrom Inc and Rent the Runway announced a partnership that aims to draw more foot traffic into the department store while making the clothing rental service more convenient so it can improve service to existing customers and attract new ones. Rent the Runway "drop-off boxes," where subscribers can quickly scan and return rented items, will be placed inside four Los Angeles-based Nordstrom stores, three of which are smaller "Nordstrom Local" stores billed by the chain as "a convenient drop-in hub" closer to residential areas.

The idea is to make it more convenient for Rent the Runway subscribers to drop off rented items and explore other offerings at Nordstrom Local stores, where shoppers can consult personal stylists for fashion and beauty services, have clothes altered or make quick returns.

Los Angeles is Rent the Runway's fourth largest market, where there is a "particularly high density of subscribers living or working close to the Nordstrom Locals in West Hollywood, Brentwood and Downtown LA," the clothing rental company said.

A controlling stake in department store Liberty London has been sold to a private equity-led consortium in a deal valuing the business at £300m.

The retail landmark, which was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in 1875 with a £2,000 loan from his future father-in-law, has grown to become an international brand that sells its distinctive fabric prints and luxury leather goods around the world.

The sale marks a sizeable return for the current major shareholder, private equity firm BlueGem, which bought Liberty for £32m in 2010. It refinanced the investment in 2014, reducing its stake in the department store to about 40%. BlueGem has offloaded its stake to a group led by private equity firm Glendower Capital. A majority of existing Liberty investors, including BlueGem founder Marco Capello, who will remain as non-executive chairman, are holding on to their shares in the business.

The Tudor-style store on Great Marlborough Street in central London opened in 1924 and has been extensively renovated by its current owners. The store is known for designer fashion as well as beauty, accessories, homewares and haberdashery.

The iconic Israeli department store, Hamashbir Lazarchan, is reportedly going to open an online branch with Amazon Israel, according to sources quoted by the Globes business news site. The move is being made in addition to starting its own e-commerce website, which was announced to investors at a presentation last week. Currently Hamashbir's online activity is being conducted through the azrieli.com ecommerce website.

According to the report, not every category of merchandise in its stores will be available for purchase online via Amazon; just those items in which Hamashbir Lazarchan is the official exclusive marketer, in order to minimize local competition. The chain hopes to move 10 % of its sales turnover, approximately NIS 100 million per year, to the online division within the next three years.

Selfridges is working with digital artists on a new multi-channel initiative. Called The New Order, it enhances creative collaborations by merging physical and digital shopping and luring consumers to the stores. "Selfridges is demonstrating is understanding that 'fans and engagement' are no longer 'the' sales criterion," said Rebecca Miller, founder/CEO of Miller & Company, New York. "Attention and reaction are now the standards, creating a 'new' art form for selling". The retailer worked closely with a selection of artists, including Jon Emmony, Filip Custic, Ines Alpha and Jamee-Maree Shipton, to create unique campaigns. The collaborations will be launched through September.

See video on Instagram

France's Galeries Lafayette announced it was joining forces with Mauboussin chairman Alain Nemarq to buy a majority stake in the jeweller, as the upmarket department store strengthens its roster of premium but affordable jewellery.

Mauboussin, with €80 million of annual sales, is 85 percent held by Swiss businessman Dominique Fremont who indicated he wanted to sell.

Alain Nemarq has been chairman of Mauboussin since 2002 and will continue to run the company.

The deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed, follows Galeries Lafayette's 2012 acquisition of French jeweller Guerin.

press release: Galeries Lafayette buys majority stake in jeweller Mauboussin

A recent film which has attracted some attention takes place partly in a department store named in the film Dentley and Soper, and concerns a "killer dress". The film called In Fabric and made by Peter Strickland, a Hungary-based British director, is set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a department store and follows the life a cursed dress as it passes from person to person with devastating consequences. The gothic-looking creepy saleswoman tells one browsing customer that the hesitation in her voice "will soon be an echo in the recesses of the spheres of retail". Perhaps not something we would train our sales associates to say. The director, who has had several small retail jobs including, apparently, at Harvey Nichols, remembers in particular a visit to the now-closed Jacksons department store while growing up in Reading, UK.

trailer: "in fabric: a killer dress"

SOGO of Japan first opened in Singapore in Raffles City in 1986. It later opened two more outlets in Paragon and Tampines. However, the group left Singapore in 2000 because of financial troubles. Other stores in the region were taken over under independent franchises such as Lifestyle SOGO in Hong Kong, and KL SOGO in Malaysia.

This latter has just opened its third country outlet in The Mall, Mid Valley Southkey in Johor Bahru, just across the causeway from Singapore. The 200 000 sq ft store has three levels and offers cosmetics, fashion brands, international and regional, as well as home products. The aesthetic of the store is minimalist, in line with its Japanese heritage.

Kohl's is introducing sensory-friendly and adaptive clothing for kids; apparel designed to meet the needs of people with various disabilities. The department store said that it's rolling out a range of adaptive clothing options as part of its three largest house brands for children: Jumping Beans, SO and Urban Pipeline. In doing so, Kohl's joins a handful of retailers that have launched clothing lines aimed at kids with special needs in recent years.

Items are designed to be easy for the user or caregiver to take on and off, Kohl's said, while mirroring styles in the retailer's regular lineup. Pieces that are part of the new Kohl's lineup include features like flat seams, wider neck and hem lines, longer lengths, abdominal access, two-way zippers, reinforced belt loops and hook and loop closures. The collection also includes clothing that is diaper-friendly and wheelchair-friendly.

Adaptive apparel is available for babies through juniors and young men's sizes on Kohl's website.

Harvey Nichols has reported a significant increase in cross-border sales after providing a localised experience through a partnership with Global-e. The experience is similar to that enjoyed by online customers in the UK. However, the store can now tailor its offer to each market with pricing supported in more than 95 currencies and checkout localised to 21 languages with duties and tax already calculated.

Myer has struck a landmark deal with its biggest landlord Scentre Group to downsize one of the stores it had earmarked for closure. The retailer announced it would reduce its Belconnen store at the Westfield centre in Canberra from three floors to two rather than close the complete store as previously announced. It becomes the first major deal in what the Australian department store group hopes will continue to lead to a reduction in its wider rental costs. It marks a key win for chief executive John King as he works to create a smaller, more profitable retailer. Refurbishment works will be undertaken across a reduced floorspace, creating a two-floor, 12,000sq-m store with an improved retail experience and an increased number of new and exclusive brands. Myer has previously struck deals to hand back floors at two other stores, in Queensland and New South Wales.

A report by Gartner L2 gives the top department stores in terms of their "digital IQ", that is, how good they are online. Macy's and Nordstrom take the top slots, thanks to fulfilment, ad visibility, social media, searches and other help tools for customers. Others on the list are Zalando, Otto, Kohl's, La Redoute, JC Penney, John Lewis, Asos, and Marks & Spencer.

see list for comments

Suning, the new owner of Wanda Department Stores, has revealed its fresh name for the chain. Since the end of May, the new stores have progressively started to be rebranded Suning.com Plaza.

Suning.com CEO Hou Enlong says the 37 Suning.com Plazas will operate based on the previous supplier advantages accumulated by Wanda Department Store. But by integrating the online and offline shopping scenarios of Suning, such as RedBaby, Suning JIWU, Suning Convenience Stores, the new store model will be transformed into "an innovative, smart-retail commercial complex, where it enables nowadays urban consumers to eat, shop and entertain". Together with the existing 19 Suning.com Plazas and 16 Suning Plazas, Suning currently owns and operates 72 shopping complexes, which form the largest self-operated smart retail complex system in China.

Prada has expanded its fast-growing ecommerce business into the lucrative Chinese market as it partners with JD.com to launch a flagship store.

The iconic Italian luxury fashion brand launched its authorised flagship store on JD.com's platform yesterday, offering its entire upcoming autumn/winter collection to the site's 300 million global customers.

As part of an effort to boost the online presence of all of its sub-brands, the partnership will also see Prada Group's Car Shoe and Miu Miu brands launch flagship stores on JD.com.

In 2018 Prada reported double digit growth in its online business, and this latest move represents a continuation of its developing digital strategy.

"Prada is synonymous globally with the highest taste in fashion and luxury, and it is truly an honor to welcome them to our online platform," JD.com's president of international business Kevin Jiang said."International brands are increasingly recognizing the power of JD when expanding into China's burgeoning luxury market, and we look forward to helping Prada connect with China's sophisticated consumers."

This comes just days after online luxury fashion giant Farfetch announced the launch of its flagship on JD.com, two years after the Chinese ecommerce giant purchased a $397 million (£313.59 million) stake.

Source: www.chargedretail.co.uk

Galeries Lafayette unveiled its "Go for Good" program last September and has sprinkled its stores with "Good Spot" spaces, highlighting the sustainable bent of a range of products from hundreds of brands. Now it is its "Go for Good" campaign to its BHV Marais department store and its La Redoute online apparel and home goods business. La Redoute will flag its most environmentally friendly products starting this month while BHV Marais will join the program next spring. Each of the two labels will offer more sustainable products in fashion, beauty, home goods and food.

To complete its "Good Spot" spaces, Galeries Lafayette's Boulevard Haussmann flagship in Paris will add "Good Baby" and "Green Beauty" spaces next year.

The most recent results from some of the most important UK department stores have been mixed and are as follows:

|  |  |  |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Marks & Spencer | £10.4bn | -3% |

| John Lewis* | £4.86bn | +<1% |

| Harrods | £2.1bn | +6.8% |

| Selfridges | £1.75bn | +11.5% |

| Fenwick | £411m | -3.6% |

| Harvey Nichols | £210m | +9% |

| Liberty | £133m | +8% |

| Fortnum & Mason | £126m | +12% |

*Department stores only

Debenhams with last recorded gross sales of £2.9bn is not communicating information except to announce store closures.

House of Fraser whose last reported sales figure was £840m, is in administration and facing an uncertain future.

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Total department store sales in the US since 2014 have been falling.

Top US department stores have reported total sales figures for the year to January 2019 as follows:

|  |  |  |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Macy's | $24.9 bn | +2% |

| Kohl's | $19.2 bn | +0.7% |

| Nordstrom | $15.5 bn | +2.6% |

| JC Penney | $11.7 bn | -7.1% |

| Dillard's | $6.4 bn | +1.5% |

| Neiman Marcus* | $4.9 bn | +4% |

*(year to July 2018)

Austrian investor René Benko has acquired the half of German department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof that he did not already control for $1 billion from Hudson's Bay Company. The Canadian retailer is withdrawing from Europe's largest economy.

Canadian Hudson's Bay Company wants to leave Europe and the stock exchange. The Dutch stores are an exception and remain part of the company - for now.

Looking for options

HBC is selling its minority stake in the German merger company Galeria Kaufhof Karstadt to its Austrian partner Signa Holding. Its owner, billionaire René Benko, pays a billion euros to the Canadian company, that needs money to settle part of its debts and will fall back to only focusing on the North American market.

Last year, HBC's Kaufhof and Signa's Karstadt merged to form Germany's biggest department store group. The group also owns the Belgian Galeria Inno chain and fifteen stores in the Netherlands. A bad sign for the Dutch Hudson's Bay stores is that they are not part of the deal; even more so: HBC acquires Signa Holding's stake in them and sets it free from any obligation in the Netherlands. A financial advisor will now have to look for a solution for the very poorly performing stores.

HBC also announced it is looking into possibilities of leaving the stock exchange as well: this way the retail group would be able to build towards a new future in a quieter way.