What: Galeries Lafayette has recruited a former Lyon hotel general manager to open and run Nouvelles Galeries Bron, its new lifestyle destination in East Lyon.

Why it is important: The appointment moves the €100 million+ Lyon-Bron "Nouvelles Galeries" project from construction to operation, and it shows how Galeries Lafayette intends to run its regional sites: as places to spend time, not just to shop.

Citynove, the property company of the Galeries Lafayette Group, has named Agnès Razanaka to lead Nouvelles Galeries Bron, a newly created position. She will oversee the site's opening, scheduled for early 2027, before taking charge of its development and day-to-day animation. She aims to make it a must-visit East Lyon destination with high hospitality standards, unconventional events and a strong collective spirit with tenants.

The project is designed to go beyond premium retail and create a lifestyle space combining shopping, discovery, culture, sport, health, leisure and dining. Confirmed tenants include H&M, Normal, Picard, Maxi Zoo, On Air and Palomano, alongside food outlets Popeyes, Chamas Tacos and Ice Cream Coffee. Razanaka cites Citynove's people-centred approach and the aesthetic ambition of its sites.

Aged 37, she holds a master's degree in international hospitality and restaurant management from iaelyon School of Management. After starting at Cook & Go in Lyon Confluence, she joined Louvre Hotels Group in 2014, ran the four-star Silky by Happyculture hotel from 2019 and Eklo Lyon from 2022 to 2024, and led the opening of Océania Lyon in 2025. She has sat on the board of the Club Hôtelier Lyonnais since 2020.

IADS Notes: The appointment marks the final stage of a transformation that began when Galeries Lafayette Lyon-Bron reopened with a 9,200 m² extension. That first phase set out plans for a 60-unit shopping centre with restaurants, a medical centre and a gym, backed by more than €100 million of investment (Mes Infos, October 2024). The project then took shape as the "Nouvelles Galeries" concept: the site grows from 21,000 to 37,000 m², adds over 80 boutiques with a strong proximity-retail focus, and aims to double annual footfall, following the Annecy model of more than 3 million visitors and 20% sales growth (Fashion Network, May 2026). Bron sits within a wider regional programme that includes the €6 million flagship-inspired renovation of Nice Masséna, as the group elevates its regional stores into destinations (Nice Matin, June 2026). Choosing a hospitality executive to lead the site reflects a sector-wide shift: department stores such as Selfridges, John Lewis and Harrods now compete for consumers' leisure time through food, services, workshops and cultural programming rather than product range alone (The Retail Bulletin, July 2026).

Galeries Lafayette appoints a hotel executive, finalising Nouvelles Galeries Lyon Bron store 

What: Hyundai Department Store is opening a pop-up store featuring five Korean fashion brands inside Galeries Lafayette Haussmann in Paris, running through 27 October.

Why it is important: By placing Korean brands inside Galeries Lafayette rather than a standalone store, Hyundai is using an established department-store partner's footfall and prestige to de-risk its first entry into Europe, mirroring the host/export logic already seen with its Japan and Taiwan pop-ups.

Hyundai Department Store's K-content export platform, The Hyundai Global, is opening a pop-up on the third floor of Galeries Lafayette Haussmann in Paris, running from 6 to 27 October. The 79 square metre space sits near the escalator entrance, close to Sandro and A.P.C., and features five Korean fashion labels: KIMHĒKIM, RE RHEE, LIE, FRITUR and THE ILMA. The pop-up is run in partnership with the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), with Hyundai handling event planning, logistics and on-site operations while KOCCA supports participating brands and local promotion.

The Hyundai Global launched in Tokyo in 2024 and has since opened pop-ups and flagships in Osaka, Nagoya, Taipei and Taichung. Hyundai says its Omotesando flagship in Tokyo is currently running 30% above its sales target, while earlier pop-ups at Shibuya Parco and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Taiwan achieved the highest sales recorded at those locations. The Paris activation is intended as a springboard into the European market, part of a plan to open around ten The Hyundai Global flagships across Asia, Europe and North America by 2030.

IADS Notes: Hyundai Department Store's push into Paris follows a broader cross-border strategy already visible in Tokyo, where the group opened its first overseas flagship in June 2026, as Time Out reported; that entry's own sourcing already flagged the Handsome subsidiary accelerating European expansion through pop-ups at La Samaritaine and Galeries Lafayette, making the current activation a continuation of that strategy rather than a new initiative. The move also sits alongside Hyundai's digital-side bet on curation over speed, embodied by The Hyundai Hi app, covered by Forbes in September 2026, which builds audience through editorial discovery rather than price competition. On the host side, Galeries Lafayette has built a recurring format of culturally themed pop-ups at its Haussmann flagship, from the Céline Dion activation reported by Fashion United in September 2026 to the Africa Now showcase of African designers documented by Fashion Network in May 2026; the Korean fashion pop-up extends the same playbook of using international and cultural programming to diversify footfall and position the store as a global cultural destination.

Hyundai Department Store brings Korean fashion pop-up to Paris Galeries Lafayette

What: For the 27th consecutive year, The Mall Group is running its Vegetarian Festival programme, this year consolidating dishes and ingredients from four regional food districts into a single in-mall format.

Why it is important: It reflects the sector-wide shift toward treating in-store dining and food curation as a deliberate engagement and differentiation tool, alongside comparable moves at John Lewis, Breuninger, Manor Genève and Hyundai.

The Mall Group has launched a "Vegetarian Festival Street" concept for the 27th consecutive edition of its THE MALL LIFESTORE TASTE OF J programme, consolidating dishes and ingredients from four of Thailand's best-known vegetarian food districts — Yaowarat, Talat Noi, Talat Phlu and Phuket — into its LifeStore, Gourmet Market and Gourmet Eats outlets nationwide.

The group's Chief Marketing Officer said the Vegetarian Festival remains a key seasonal driver for Thai retail, citing University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce data showing spending exceeded THB 45.9 billion last year, continuing five years of growth. The Mall Group noted that 92.9% of consumers still prefer buying festival food in person rather than online, underpinning the case for a physical, multi-district activation over a delivery-led approach.

Alongside the regional street-food lineup, The Mall Group is introducing festival-exclusive dishes developed with chefs and food specialists to raise the profile of premium ingredients among younger shoppers, while Gourmet Market and Gourmet Eats showcase vegetarian restaurants, local produce and ready-to-eat meals nationwide. The activation runs from 9 to 18 October at The Mall LifeStore Bang Khae, and from 10 to 18 October across other LifeStore branches, The Mall Korat, and all Gourmet Market and Gourmet Eats outlets.

IADS Notes: The Mall Group's Vegetarian Festival Street extends a pattern already well documented in the sector of department stores using food as a deliberate footfall and dwell-time driver rather than a secondary amenity. Hyundai Department Store's tie-up with Le Bon Marché's La Grande Épicerie brought curated French gourmet assortments and themed events into its Seoul food halls to position them as lifestyle destinations (The Chosun Daily, March 2026), while Manor Genève's partnership with a Michelin-recognised chef on a street food concept pursued the same differentiation logic through a single high-profile culinary anchor (Press Release, April 2026). John Lewis took the scalable route, rolling its own-brand Platter dining concept out across 32 stores under an £800m investment programme as hospitality passed 20% of in-store transactions (Press Release, August 2026). Breuninger's fifth consecutive edition of its guest-chef dinner series shows the same logic applied over time, turning a culinary event into a recurring, brand-owned format built for year-on-year loyalty (Press Release, September 2026). The Mall Group's 27-year-old, multi-district vegetarian street-food programme sits at the intersection of these approaches: a seasonal, recurring format like Breuninger's, built on curated local sourcing like Hyundai's, deployed at the scale and cross-banner coordination of John Lewis's rollout.

The Mall Group launches Thailand Vegetarian Festival Street for 27th consecutive year

What: John Lewis has partnered with Savile Row tailor Clothsurgeon on an exclusive 32-piece menswear collection, launching on 8 October online and in five stores.

Why it is important: Exclusive designer capsules have become John Lewis's main lever for repositioning its fashion offer, and this collaboration extends that strategy to menswear.

John Lewis is launching a 32-piece menswear collection with Clothsurgeon, the brand founded in 2012 by creative director Rav Matharu, which opened a Savile Row store in 2022. The range spans tailoring, knitwear, denim, jersey, outerwear and accessories, blending Clothsurgeon's luxury streetwear aesthetic and tailoring expertise with John Lewis's menswear heritage.

Prices run from £29 for ties to £435 for an Italian wool blazer, well below Clothsurgeon's usual range of around £475 for a cashmere jumper to £3,450 for a cashmere coat. The collection reworks brand bestsellers, including the signature double-breasted blazer and tuxedo, using Italian wool, brushed cashmere, Japanese selvedge denim and Portuguese jersey. Footwear includes three styles designed exclusively for Clothsurgeon by British shoemaker Grenson.

The launch comes as John Lewis seeks to build on a 17% rise in tailoring sales this year. The collection will be available from 8 October online and in five stores: Oxford Street, Peter Jones, Stratford, Leeds and Trafford.

Head of menswear buying Beth Pettet described the range as part of a wave of "new tailoring", defined by pared-back design and head-to-toe styling in which knits, tees and trainers replace shirts and ties.

IADS Notes: The Clothsurgeon capsule is the latest in a series of exclusive designer collaborations at John Lewis. The second Rejina Pyo collection used the same distribution, online and in five stores (Drapers, April 2026), while the 44-piece RIXO range, priced from £65, gave shoppers a more accessible way into a premium British label (Press Release, July 2026). The focus on menswear mirrors Harrods, which has rebuilt its men's Designer Collections room around versatile outerwear and knitwear and added a dedicated pop-up space for exclusive capsules and collaborations (WWD, September 2026). Bloomingdale's took a similar approach with Burberry, pairing British heritage with a tiered rollout: a flagship takeover plus pop-ups in twelve further stores (WWD, November 2025). The collection launches as John Lewis pursues "Rise", the three-year plan under chair Jason Tarry to restore market leadership while consumer spending is under pressure (Financial Times, September 2026).

John Lewis and Clothsurgeon collaborate for menswear collection

What: Bloomingdale's CEO Olivier Bron frames the retailer as a neighborhood department store built on local repeat customers rather than tourists.

Why it is important: It positions proximity, not luxury branding, as the core growth lever, directly supporting the record Q2 results and the personal-shopper and contemporary-premium strategies already documented in IADS coverage.

Bloomingdale's generates roughly $4 billion in annual revenue, with digital accounting for 40% of sales, yet CEO Olivier Bron argues that store investment remains central to that growth. Appointed in autumn 2023 after running Central Group's department stores in Bangkok and earlier spending eight years at Galeries Lafayette, Bron describes most of Bloomingdale's business as neighborhood-driven: the bulk of revenue comes from Upper East Side and Manhattan locals rather than tourists, and two-thirds of customers buy their first luxury item there.

That proximity model sits alongside a deliberate contemporary-premium positioning, which Bron credits for the retailer's best second quarter on record. Personal shopping is a structural pillar: eighteen months ago, Bloomingdale's hired its top-performing freelance stylists, those generating over $2 million in annual sales, as staff; 110 were brought on, some earning up to $1 million a year, and they now drive 40% of fashion revenue. Bron also contrasts French and American luxury consumers, noting the latter rely more heavily on personal shoppers and total-look purchasing. Bloomingdale's operates 32 US stores plus a Middle East franchise, and Bron's ambition is to bring the retailer, under its ninth president since 1861, up to international standards.

IADS Notes: Bron's proximity-first framing sits alongside a broader repositioning already documented: Bloomingdale's addition of roughly 100 brands this year, the renovation of the 59th Street flagship, and seven consecutive quarters of comparable sales growth were set out in Vogue, September 2026. Nordstrom's opening of a neighborhood service-only hub in San Francisco, offering pickup, alterations and styling without merchandise, reflects a parallel bet on local relevance as reported by WWD, October 2025. Bloomingdale's own rollout of the Ask Macy's conversational assistant, framed as reinforcing rather than displacing in-store service, was covered by Aim, June 2026. Frasers Group's decision to guarantee freelancer pay following its Harvey Nichols acquisition, noted by City AM, August 2026, points to a wider industry reinvestment in personal shopping even where the underlying trigger was a competitor's collapse rather than organic growth.

Olivier Bron on Bloomingdale's as a neighborhood department store

What: El Corte Inglés is taking full ownership of Viajes El Corte Inglés after Tool Factory agreed to sell its 25% stake following the integration of Logitravel.

Why it is important: Full ownership of its travel business strengthens El Corte Inglés's services ecosystem and gives the group complete control over a growth engine it is actively reinforcing.

El Corte Inglés has reached an agreement with Tool Factory to acquire its 25% stake in Viajes El Corte Inglés, giving the Spanish department store group full control of its travel subsidiary's capital. The transaction stems from the shareholders' agreement signed in February 2022, when Tool Factory took a stake in Grupo Viajes El Corte Inglés as the two companies combined their businesses. While the terms have been agreed, the deal still requires clearance from competition authorities in Spain and Portugal, the CNMC and the Autoridade da Concorrência.

Tool Factory's exit follows the completion of Logitravel's integration into Viajes El Corte Inglés, one of the central objectives of the agreement reached four years ago. The combination brought together Logitravel's digital expertise and El Corte Inglés's physical network of travel agencies, along with its activities in holidays, tour operation, premium travel and corporate services.

Once approved, the deal will leave El Corte Inglés as sole owner of a travel business that combines online capabilities with in-person service. Tool Factory, for its part, will concentrate on investing in hotel assets, which it manages in partnership with Smy Hotels.

IADS Notes: El Corte Inglés's move to take full ownership of its travel subsidiary follows a clear shift in the group's strategy from asset sales and debt reduction toward acquisitions, organisational renewal and a €3 billion investment plan through 2030, led by Cristina Álvarez with McKinsey's guidance (Modaes, April 2026). The group's updated strategic plan, announced alongside a record dividend of around €250 million, explicitly reinforces Viajes El Corte Inglés as a trusted service and a complementary growth engine (El Pais, July 2026). The travel business already works across divisions: for the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Madrid, it created packages combining accommodation and race tickets, while official merchandise was sold online and in stores (El Correo, June 2026). Travel also sits within a wider services ecosystem that includes hospitality, as shown by the partnership with IHG to open Madrid's first Kimpton hotel connected to El Corte Inglés commercial spaces (Le Courrier d'Espagne, June 2026). The buyout echoes Falabella's $159 million acquisition of its partner Organización Corona's minority stakes in Colombia, which gave the group greater operational control over its retail, banking, insurance and service subsidiaries (Modaes, January 2026).

El Corte Inglés is taking full ownership of Viajes El Corte Inglés

What: Magasin du Nord has launched a five-year, DKK 100-million-plus transformation of its Kongens Nytorv flagship, moving personal shoppers onto the sales floor, replacing every escalator and upgrading in-store technology.

Why it is important: The project rebuilds the store around customer behaviour rather than square footage: advice becomes part of the floor, and the online and in-store journeys are designed as one.

Magasin du Nord has begun a five-year transformation of its Kongens Nytorv flagship, investing more than DKK 100 million across buildings totalling almost 59,000 square metres of gross floor area. The store had over 7.1 million visits in 2025; year-to-date traffic is up almost 7%, and group revenue grew close to 10% last financial year.

Personal shoppers will move out onto the sales floor to make advice a visible part of the visit, all escalators will be replaced, and technology will be modernised to make shopping simpler and more inspiring. Retail Director Frederik G.G.G. Nielsen stresses that assortment must be combined with service, advice and experiences, with seamless movement between digital and physical channels. Click-and-collect sales at Kongens Nytorv are up 33% year to date.

The modernisation should also help attract new brands and concepts to an assortment of more than 1,200 brands. Work is under way on the ground floor, the womenswear floor follows in 2027, and the rest of the store will be renovated in phases while it stays open. Magasin frames the project as echoing its 1952 modernisation, and the Magasin du Nord Museum is involved.

IADS Notes:  Magasin's Kongens Nytorv investment builds on a solid 2025, when retail sales rose 9% to 3.3 billion kroner, net profit climbed from 59 to 70 million kroner, and 49 million kroner went into upgrading the Aarhus and Lyngby flagships after the Rødovre closure (Nordjyske, April 2026). Competition in the capital has also increased since Salling opened a curated 3,000-square-meter "lifestyle house" at Kultorvet and took over Magasin's former 60-year lease in Rødovre Centrum, a move Magasin publicly welcomed as validation of physical retail (Jyllands-Posten, August 2026). The 33% rise in click-and-collect sales extends a pattern already visible during Christmas 2025, when nearly 7% of December orders were fulfilled through buy online, pick up in store and digital activity drove store visits as well as web sales (Via Ritzau, December 2025). Other department stores have reinvested in their flagships in similar ways. Bloomingdale's 59th Street overhaul combined designer boutiques, immersive environments and upgraded personal shopping, and was followed by five consecutive quarters of sales growth (WWD, March 2026). In Korea, Lotte and Hanwha Galleria are closing weaker branches to fund large-scale renovations of their strongest stores (The Chosun Daily, September 2026).

Magasin du Nord invests over USD 15m (DKK 100m) in transforming its Copenhagen flagship

What: Bloomingdale's CEO Olivier Bron told Monocle the chain is repositioning from premium contemporary to high luxury to match Asian and European standards, renovating its New York flagship alongside 10 stores over the next five years.

Why it is important: Bron's choice of dwell time and long-term customer relationships over sales density challenges yield-driven space planning, with Bloomingdale's run of comparable-sales gains giving the argument commercial weight.

Olivier Bron, the French CEO of Bloomingdale's and a former Bain & Company, Galeries Lafayette and Central Group executive, rejects the view that department stores are dinosaurs. The format as it operated 30 or 40 years ago has gone, he argues, yet its founding purpose as a place of discovery, where customers experience products first-hand, remains relevant. While Saks and Neiman Marcus have struggled, Bloomingdale's posted a 10.2% increase in first-quarter comparable sales.

Noting that none of the world's best department stores are currently in the US, Bron is repositioning Bloomingdale's from premium contemporary to high luxury, aiming to deliver the standards set in Asia and Europe. Assortment, service and experience are adapted to each city. The New York flagship is being renovated to stand apart from anything else in the US, and 10 stores will be renovated over the next five years.

Bloomingdale's operates only in prime malls with strong traffic, a deliberate choice as many US centres struggle with vacancies. Bron also warns against maximising yield from every inch of the store: space to pause, eat and drink matters, as long-term relationships with customers who spend time in store outweigh a purely transactional approach.

IADS Notes: Bron's case for department stores as places of discovery extends the "Dream Big" strategy he detailed in February, built on luxury brand expansion, flagship renovations, events and a revitalised service culture that lifted the number of top sellers by 30% (WWD, February 2026). The renovation programme was already under way in the spring, with director of stores Catherine Cook pointing to localised food and beverage concepts and in-store events designed to increase dwell time (WWD, April 2026), an approach mirrored in the UK, where Selfridges, John Lewis, Liberty and Harrods are adding food halls, restaurants and cultural programming to compete for consumers' leisure time rather than single transactions (The Retail Bulletin, July 2026). Bron's insistence on operating only in prime malls reflects a US market split between reinvested, experience-driven top-tier centres with high occupancy and B- and C-rated properties facing persistent vacancies (PYMNTS, February 2026). The commercial results continue to support the model: Bloomingdale's comparable sales rose 11.3% in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, the strongest of any Macy's Inc. banner, following the 10.2% first-quarter increase cited in the interview (BoF, September 2026).

Olivier Bron on repositioning Bloomingdale's to international standards

What: Skims has entered the Spanish market through El Corte Inglés, opening its first points of sale at the Serrano store in Madrid and in Marbella, and selling its collections on the department store's website.

Why it is important: By securing Skims' first Spanish stores and its local online distribution, El Corte Inglés gains a high-visibility, social-first brand that can draw younger customers to its stores and website.

Skims, the intimate apparel and loungewear company founded by Kim Kardashian and Jens Grede in 2018, has entered the Spanish retail market through El Corte Inglés. The brand is present at the Serrano Street store in Madrid and is now expanding to Marbella. The agreement also covers sales through El Corte Inglés' website; until now, Spanish customers could only buy Skims products through the company's European e-commerce platform, which has no dedicated page for Spain.

The move is part of a wider international push. Following its recent London opening, Skims set itself the goal mid-year of ending 2026 with 55 own stores, doubling its current network, and exceeding one hundred points of sale in 2027. It has recently expanded into the United Arab Emirates, with a presence in Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates, and into Mexico through local partners, with openings planned in Seoul, Delhi and Mumbai.

To support growth outside the United States, the company hired Natalie Buchberger, formerly of Tapestry, Zara and Snipes, to lead franchise expansion across EMEA and Asia-Pacific. Skims had 27 own stores in early September and reached a $5 billion valuation in November 2025 after a $225 million funding round.

IADS Notes: Skims' choice of El Corte Inglés as its entry point into Spain follows a wider pattern of digital-native brands using department stores to reach new markets, as when Nuuds moved into wholesale with Nordstrom to use the retailer's curation and customer engagement (Inside Retail, March 2026). The same partnership-led logic underpinned Marks & Spencer's US fashion debut, which relied on Nordstrom's stores and website rather than standalone openings to build awareness at lower risk (WWD, March 2026). The combined store-and-online format of the Skims agreement is consistent with El Corte Inglés' updated strategic plan, which treats physical stores as experiential differentiators and positions the website and app as the first point of contact for many customers (Press Release, July 2026). Celebrity-linked brands are also being used to draw traffic and engagement: Breuninger staged s.Oliver's campaign launch around an in-store appearance by Heidi Klum, with ticketed Meet & Greet access and an exclusive capsule pop-up (Press Release, September 2026). Reliance Retail acquired Priyanka Chopra Jonas's Anomaly for its brand equity and appeal to younger, digitally engaged consumers (India Economic Times, May 2026).

El Corte Inglés onboards Skims

What: John Lewis is adding specialist concessions from Audley Travel, Clarendon Fine Art, Randox Health and Tish Lyon piercing to its stores to reposition them as service-led destinations.

Why it is important: By bringing in advisory services that cannot be replicated online, John Lewis is making expertise, rather than product range, the main reason to visit its stores.

John Lewis is expanding its line-up of in-store specialist concessions as part of its £800m brand transformation, which includes four store refurbishments this year. The retailer says shoppers increasingly want advisor-led, tactile experiences over routine transactions, and that the concessions will give customers more reasons to spend time in store while supporting its omnichannel strategy.

Audley Travel will open travel hubs in 12 stores from November, offering end-to-end holiday planning across more than 90 destinations, from private safaris to milestone celebrations. It is the brand's first high street presence in its 30-year history. Clarendon Fine Art will open galleries in three branches by early October, offering personalised art consultancy and works by artists including L.S. Lowry, Picasso and Keith Haring.

Randox Health is more than doubling its in-store clinics offering blood testing and wellness assessments, while piercing and jewellery brand Tish Lyon is more than doubling its presence, with premium piercing, jewellery welding and 14k gold jewellery fitted in bespoke studios.

The concessions sit alongside John Lewis's Partner-led advisory services, including home design, personal styling and nursery consultations, and existing partners Tapi and David Clulow Opticians. Demand for advisory services rose by more than 5% in the first half.

IADS Notes: John Lewis's expansion of specialist concessions builds on a services-led repositioning already visible across its stores, most recently with Sports & Wellness departments that combine sportswear and wearables with gait analysis, AI-powered fitness mirrors and run clubs under the same £800m transformation programme (John Lewis press release, August 2026). The logic reaches beyond one retailer. Frasers' acquisition of Harvey Nichols has been read as evidence that large department store footprints regain value when they become platforms for services, smaller brands and experiences that cannot be replicated online, with John Lewis cited for rising demand for personal styling and nursery appointments (Financial Times, August 2026). Selfridges, Liberty and Harrods are following a similar path, turning their stores into leisure destinations built around hospitality, workshops and culture to justify the visit and extend dwell time (The Retail Bulletin, July 2026). Harvey Nichols took the wellness route directly, giving an entire Knightsbridge floor to Pilates, clinics and functional nutrition within its three-year refurbishment (WWD, May 2026). Operationally, the shift towards concession-heavy models and strategic partnerships has emerged as one of the main responses to financial pressure on the format, though results remain uneven across operators (Fashion Network, January 2026).

John Lewis adds expert services to stores as it leans into experiential retail

What: Thailand has launched THIM, a government app for foreign visitors that brings immigration procedures and retail and travel privileges from partners including The Mall Group onto a single platform, recording more than 600,000 downloads since 1 August.

Why it is important: A state-run entry platform is becoming a retail channel, giving launch partners such as The Mall Group access to foreign visitors before they reach a store.

Thailand's Immigration Bureau, which operates under the Royal Thai Police, has launched THIM as a single digital gateway for foreign nationals, covering pre-arrival preparation, entry procedures, stays in the country, tourism information and visitor privileges. The bureau cites mounting pressure on airport and border checkpoint capacity, aiming to speed up procedures without compromising national security.

The app hosts the Thailand Digital Arrival Card and an Explore Thailand section. Queue booking, certificates of stay, visa extensions, 90-day reporting and visa on arrival are planned. Available since 1 August 2026, THIM has recorded more than 600,000 downloads and over 580,000 users.

Identity verification relies on NFC reading of passport chips, liveness detection and facial comparison. Biometric data is kept separate from other personal data, data is encrypted in transit and storage, and personal information falls under Thailand's Personal Data Protection Act. The app is hosted on the AWS Asia Pacific (Bangkok) Region.

Explore Thailand gives visitors coupons and privileges redeemable by QR or promotion code. Launch partners include The Mall Group, GrabTaxi, Wipay, True Corporation, The Minor Food Group, Minor International and Bangkok Dusit Medical Services. The bureau plans to add information on attractions, accommodation and activities.

IADS Notes: The Mall Group's presence among THIM's launch partners follows its payment partnership with UnionPay International, which combined acceptance for Chinese tourists with a year-long programme of discounts and cash coupons (The Nation, November 2025). The group has since built a loyalty base of more than seven million members, co-branded payment cards and multilingual AI shopping assistants (Retail News Asia, May 2026). The competition for inbound spending is intense: Thailand captured a large share of the Chinese tourists who turned away from Japan over Lunar New Year, while Japanese duty-free and luxury retailers absorbed the loss (South China Morning Post, February 2026). China's visa-free scheme, under which 77.7% of foreign arrivals entered the country in the first half of 2026, shows how entry policy has itself become a lever for inbound demand (The Diplomat, August 2026), although higher arrivals do not automatically translate into retail sales, a gap that privileges distributed at the point of entry are designed to address.

Thailand launches THIM as digital gateway for foreign visitors

What: El Corte Inglés has opened Sneakers Room, a dedicated sneaker and urban fashion space on the fifth floor of its Preciados store in Madrid, with the collections also available at Plaza Catalunya in Barcelona and online.

Why it is important: The concept brings specialist sneaker retail into the department store, positioning El Corte Inglés as a multi-brand destination for a younger, culture-driven customer.

El Corte Inglés has unveiled Sneakers Room, a new concept dedicated to sneaker culture and urban fashion, located on the fifth floor of its Preciados store in Madrid. The collections are also available at the Plaza Catalunya store in Barcelona and through the group's online platform. The space is designed to offer a specialised shopping experience in a category that is gaining ground within urban fashion.

The assortment combines exclusive releases, classic models and new arrivals from leading national and international brands, including Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Asics, Puma, Salomon, Saucony, Hoka, On, Crocs, Vans, Jordan, Keen and Reebok. The selection spans chunky models, clogs and contemporary designs alongside retro and classic silhouettes for running, basketball and tennis, complemented by a selection of urban fashion items.

Founded in 1940 by Ramón Areces and César Rodríguez González and headquartered in Madrid, El Corte Inglés is one of Spain's leading retail groups. To accelerate its digital transformation and consolidate its omnichannel model, the company increased its investment by 9.4% in fiscal year 2025, to €577 million.

IADS Notes: Sneakers Room builds on El Corte Inglés' earlier sports-led repositioning in Madrid, where the group relaunched its Puerta del Sol store as a dedicated sports centre with Adidas, Nike and Under Armour shop-in-shops and a ground floor built around sneaker trends (Modaes, January 2026). Other department stores are also reorganising footwear and active categories around curated, destination-style spaces. Bloomingdale's has grown its men's shoe floor by balancing casual sneakers with formal and luxury styles across price points (Footwear News, February 2026). John Lewis is rolling out Sports & Wellness departments organised by activity rather than product category, with brands such as Nike and Brooks alongside gait analysis and run clubs (Press Release, August 2026). The focus on sneaker culture also responds to a generational gap: department store customer bases skew older, while Gen Z shopping habits are shaped by social media and digital channels (Retail Wire, October 2025).

El Corte Inglés increases its commitment to urban fashion with the Sneakers Room space in its Preciados store

What: John Lewis has opened its 2026 Christmas shop across its UK stores, reporting strong early demand across festive categories, with gift wrap searches up fivefold year on year.

Why it is important: With a widened first-half loss and a full-year outcome that depends on peak trading, John Lewis is using early demand data, loyalty-first access and nostalgic ranges to secure festive footfall before the Golden Quarter begins.

John Lewis opened its Christmas shop across UK stores on 23 September, with festive ranges spanning decorations, gifting, wrapping and tableware. Early demand is rising: searches for Christmas gift wrap are up fivefold year on year, charity Christmas card searches are up 75%, and searches for gift tags and stockings have both risen 50%. Christmas cracker sales and searches for Christmas tableware are each up 25%.

The new decoration range leans into the "kidulting" trend, in which adults embrace nostalgic, playful products associated with childhood. Retro-inspired designs include a 1970s disco mouse, a miniature arcade game and a cassette tape, alongside products featuring Miffy, Snoopy and The Gruffalo, and yeti decorations that double as bag charms.

Santa's tea party also returns to selected stores, including Bluewater, Edinburgh and Westfield London, with 28% more tickets than last year; 65% had already been sold to My John Lewis members ahead of general sale on 28 September. Tickets cost £8.80 per child and £27.50 per adult. Loyalty members can also book seasonal masterclasses, from candle making to wreath making, while selected stores will host experiences from Hotel Chocolat and Biscuiteers, and five stores will offer cashmere personalisation.

IADS Notes: The 2026 Christmas shop opens against a tougher backdrop than last year's launch. John Lewis's first-half loss before tax and exceptional items widened to £124m and sales at the John Lewis brand fell 2%, leaving the full-year outcome dependent on peak trading (Drapers, September 2026). Its 2025 Christmas shop relied on exclusive collaborations, personalised gifts and in-store workshops while the business posted a wider £38m operating loss (Drapers, September 2025). The use of loyalty-first ticketing to build festive momentum follows the expansion of John Lewis's loyalty programme with MyJL Beauty, when active members reached 3.8 million, up 4% year on year (Drapers, April 2026). The combination of events, new products and member perks also echoes Macy's "100 Days to Christmas" approach, which used experiences rather than early discounting to protect margins as the Golden Quarter lengthens (Inside Retail, November 2025). The retailer's move on kidulting rests on demand already visible elsewhere: in France, purchases by adults and adolescents rose 22% in 2025 and now account for 36% of toy sales (Le Monde, December 2025).

John Lewis unveils 2026 Christmas shop

What: John Lewis has opened its Christmas shop across its stores 93 days before the big day, citing surging early demand for festive products.

Why it is important: The early launch reflects a broader shift in festive retail, where demand is now triggered by consumer search behaviour rather than the traditional calendar, pushing seasonal launch windows steadily earlier.

John Lewis has opened Christmas shops inside its stores across the country, 93 days ahead of the big day, offering wrapping paper, decorations, lights and tableware. The retailer said early demand for festive products has been surging, with searches for gift wrap up fivefold and charity Christmas card searches up 75%.

Nostalgic tech and retro decorations are expected to be among the season's most popular trends, with shoppers seeking screen-free gifts such as cassette players, miniature arcade games and classic sketch toys. In-store experiences have also been expanded, with the children's storytelling event Santa's Tea Party returning with a 28% increase in ticket availability, alongside seasonal masterclasses such as wreath making and paint-and-sip sessions. Stores will also host experiences with retail partners Hotel Chocolat and Biscuiteers, plus talks for My John Lewis loyalty members on themes including how to set the perfect Christmas table.

New this year, selected stores will offer on-the-spot personalisation for customers purchasing any cashmere item. Head of Christmas Cydney Ball said the launch reflects months of planning and that Christmas at John Lewis is about the anticipation and nostalgia that make the season feel magical.

IADS Notes: This physical opening extends a sequence of early-festive moves John Lewis has made this year: it follows the online Christmas shop launched in late August, which cited a 33% spike in festive searches after the World Cup final and similarly leaned on Santa's Tea Party events and pre-lit trees. The seasonal experience is being built with a leaner workforce than in previous years, after the retailer confirmed in early September that it would hire 10,400 seasonal staff, down from last year's record 13,700. The emphasis on nostalgia, personalisation and loyalty-member perks also continues a pattern seen a year earlier, when the retailer trialled a VIP lounge for loyalty members during the Christmas trading period as a way of testing experiential concepts at peak footfall.

John Lewis opens Christmas shop to give shoppers a head start

What: John Lewis is opening in-store art galleries with Clarendon Fine Art, selling work from artists including LS Lowry and Picasso across three of its department stores.

Why it is important: Introducing high-value art alongside existing in-store advisory services reinforces John Lewis's push to combine retail with service-led, aspirational customer experiences.

Clarendon Fine Art has opened galleries within John Lewis's Oxford Street flagship and its Southampton branch, with a third slated for the Cheadle store, Greater Manchester, next month. The tie-up reflects the growing role of art, culture and experience in driving discovery and engagement within physical retail, according to Clarendon.

The galleries are curated to resonate with John Lewis customers and sell work from famous names including LS Lowry and Picasso alongside contemporary artists.

John Lewis director of services and hospitality Katie Papakonstantinou said the retailer is continually looking for ways to enhance the shopping experience by combining it with unique, memorable moments of inspiration and discovery. Clarendon brings world-class expertise and a curated art collection directly into the stores, complementing John Lewis's Partner-led in-store advisory services and giving customers approachable, engaging guidance to help them find the right artwork.

Clarendon Fine Art chief commercial officer Rebecca Ball described the partnership as an important milestone in the company's growth, bringing together two brands united by quality, expertise and personal service. She said art collecting should be driven by genuine connection and emotional resonance, and that integrating artworks within shopping spaces customers already know and trust makes discovery more natural and accessible.

Clarendon, launched in 2006, turns over approximately £90m annually and has 80 high street branches, alongside galleries on cruise ships.

IADS Notes: John Lewis's tie-up with Clarendon Fine Art fits a broader pattern of department stores using specialist third-party partnerships and curated cultural content to deepen in-store discovery. Liberty followed the same category-investment logic in its own accessories floor, opening a curated Fashion Jewellery Gallery with 37 brands as part of a sequential push to specialise footprint around categories the store does best (Liberty, WWD, September 2026). Printemps took the cultural-programming route more directly, staging a free 200-piece shoe exhibition under its Haussmann dome by borrowing from specialist museums, private collectors and fashion houses rather than building an in-house collection, using outside expertise to anchor a moment of discovery under new leadership (Printemps, WWD, September 2026). Breuninger, meanwhile, shows how such a format can be sustained rather than staged once, marking the fifth consecutive year of bringing outside culinary specialists into its flagship restaurant on a recurring basis, turning a partnership into a loyalty-building fixture (Breuninger's press release, September 2026).

John Lewis strikes in-store art gallery partnership with Clarendon Fine Art

What: Breuninger is staging eight fashion shows on Freiburg's Münsterplatz and running in-store activities, including an IKEA bag customisation workshop, during the city's Fashion & Food Festival on 25–26 September 2026.

Why it is important:  It shows how a department store can act as an anchor of city-centre life, building on a festival format that has already shown gains in footfall and dwell time.

Breuninger is taking part in Freiburg's Fashion & Food Festival on 25 and 26 September 2026 with a programme spanning the Münsterplatz and its department store. At its centre are eight Breuninger fashion shows on the square, four on each day, presenting autumn/winter looks and trends from the store.

Inside, DIGEL offers an embroidery service to personalise selected items, a secco bar invites visitors to take a break, and several brands offer gifts with purchase. A cocktail bar with a DJ runs in the third-floor menswear department on both festival days, and popcorn is handed out in kidswear on Saturday. Outside, local Freiburger beer is served on the ramp to the Münsterplatz from 14:00 to 22:00 on both days.

On Saturday, from 14:00 to 20:00, the womenswear floor hosts "IKEA x Breuninger – FRAKTAstisch kreativ!", where visitors can customise IKEA's blue FRAKTA bag and take it home, with no registration required. The store is also extending its opening hours to 21:00 on Friday and 22:00 on Saturday.

David Lehr, managing director of Breuninger Freiburg, who grew up in the city, said the festival reflects an attractive city centre, strong local players and a lively sense of community.

IADS Notes: Breuninger's return to Freiburg's Fashion & Food Festival builds on an edition that already proved the model, when a city-and-retailer partnership with more than 40 fashion shows, in-store entertainment and extended opening hours drew large crowds into the city centre despite poor weather (Freiburger Wochenbericht, September 2025). The pairing of fashion and gastronomy has since become a recurring Breuninger format, extended to its Munich flagship with Michelin-starred chefs, live cooking stations and runway presentations for more than 300 guests (Press Release, April 2026). Positioning the department store as a civic anchor is also visible at Manor, which has partnered with the City of Lausanne to turn its façade into a stage for artist-led installations (24heures, January 2026). More broadly, department stores such as Selfridges, John Lewis and Harrods are adding hospitality, workshops and craft classes to compete for consumers' leisure time rather than only their purchases (The Retail Bulletin, July 2026). The hands-on IKEA bag workshop and DIGEL embroidery station in Freiburg reflect the shift from personalisation to participation, where co-creation and collaborative in-store activities give customers a sense of ownership in the brand experience (MBS, May 2026).

Breuninger brings eight fashion shows and an IKEA co-creation workshop to Freiburg's Fashion & Food Festival

What: John Lewis Partnership's financial services boss is departing after overseeing an expansion of its credit, insurance and instalment finance offer, with a successor search now underway.

Why it is important: The departure comes as retailers increasingly rely on financial services to deepen customer loyalty and diversify revenue, making leadership continuity in these units a strategic concern.

James Mack, who has run John Lewis Money since April 2024, will leave the business at the end of the year. He has been appointed chief financial officer at the Yorkshire Building Society.

Under Mack's tenure, John Lewis Money extended its financial services offer into new fields such as insurance. In an interview earlier this year, he described the strategy he had overseen as being "about helping to enable retail" at the Partnership, through services including its credit card and instalment finance offer.

John Lewis Partnership managing director of new businesses Nina Bhatia said Mack had overseen significant progress at John Lewis Money, improving the customer offer and completing the launch of its broker model for credit and insurance products. Mack said he was proud of the changes delivered, including more competitive offerings for customers and a stronger contribution from John Lewis Money to the wider Partnership.

The John Lewis Finance board has started looking for a successor.

IADS Notes: John Lewis Money's leadership change follows a period of active build-out for the division: (Retail Week, July 2026) reported the appointment of Gerry Mallon, former Tesco Bank chief executive, as an independent director as the unit expanded its position as an FCA-regulated insurance and credit broker across insurance, credit cards and point-of-sale finance. The broader push by department stores into financial services as a growth and loyalty lever is echoed elsewhere in the sector — (Fashion Network, September 2026) described El Puerto de Liverpool's expansion into personal loans, insurance and investment accounts, now close to 10% of revenue, as a way to offset softer core retail demand. That said, consumer-finance diversification carries its own risks: (Financial Times, February 2026) covered Klarna's sharp valuation decline as rising credit defaults exposed the fragility of BNPL-style lending models, a reminder of the risk retailers take on when they move deeper into regulated consumer credit.

John Lewis Money boss to leave retailer

What: The Mall Group received Gold awards for Location-Based Marketing and Experiential Marketing, plus a Bronze for Communications and PR, at the Marketing Excellence Awards 2026 organised by Marketing-Interactive.

Why it is important: The recognition continues a sustained run of industry awards for The Mall Group over the past year, spanning technology, corporate excellence and now marketing.

The Mall Group won three awards at the international Marketing Excellence Awards 2026, organised by Marketing-Interactive, recognising its ability to create innovative marketing strategies that connect the brand with modern consumers. The Gold Award for Excellence in Location-Based Marketing went to "Beyond Borders: A Global Rewards & Partnership Ecosystem," while a second Gold, for Excellence in Experiential Marketing, recognised "Monchhichi x The Mall Group: The Great New Year First in Thailand Event." A Bronze Award for Excellence in Communications and Public Relations was given for "Monchhichi x The Mall Group: The Great Happy New Year 2026."

The Marketing Excellence Awards 2026 is a marketing awards platform that recognises outstanding campaigns and strategies from leading brands and organisations. The Mall Group's approach centres on developing experiences and communications that align with continuously changing consumer behaviour, integrating creativity, data, technology and customer insight to build campaigns that raise awareness while connecting the brand with lifestyles. The company frames the wins as another step in its ongoing commitment to elevating the retail business by connecting Brand, Experience and Customer, and creating new experiences suited to consumers in the digital age.

IADS Notes: The Mall Group's latest wins continue a pattern of recognition for its marketing and technology initiatives over the past year. The group received two international awards for digital transformation and customer-experience leadership at the International Finance Awards 2025 (Press Release, February 2026), Thailand Corporate Excellence honours for its Siam Paragon Retail joint venture (Press Release, December 2025), and recognition for its AR Navigation and i-Reserved Parking services at the Asian Technology Excellence Awards 2025 (Press Release, September 2025). These accolades accompany an expanding data-driven loyalty ecosystem: the group's shift to experience-led retail rests on a loyalty programme exceeding seven million members, AI-powered personalisation, and co-branded payment partnerships (Retail News Asia, May 2026), while a more recent campaign used M Card loyalty data to design segmented, lifestyle-focused activations for female shoppers (The Nation, August 2026). This history situates the Marketing Excellence Awards 2026 wins within a broader, sustained strategy of blending technology, data and experiential marketing to build cross-border rewards and partnership ecosystems.

The Mall Group reinforces its marketing excellence by winning three awards

What: For the fifth year running, Breuninger is bringing four star chefs from Baden-Württemberg into its (karls) kitchen restaurant, with live show-cooking sessions running through 22 October 2026.

Why it is important:  It shows how a department store turns fine dining into a recurring, brand-owned event format that builds loyalty year after year rather than a one-off promotion.

Breuninger has opened the fifth edition of "Rausch der Sterne," its recurring culinary partnership pairing fine dining with everyday retail. Around 130 guests attended an exclusive six-course dinner at the (karls) kitchen restaurant in Breuninger's Stuttgart flagship, prepared jointly by four Michelin-recognised chefs from Baden-Württemberg — Malte Kuhn of Malte's "hidden kitchen," Klaus Buderath and Benedikt Wittek of Restaurant Seestern, Andreas Widmann of Restaurant Ursprung, and Franz Feckl of Restaurant Landhaus Feckl — alongside Breuninger's own kitchen chef Christina Fiorentino and its confiserie team, with wine pairings from Weingut Aldinger.

Following the launch event, signature dishes from the four guest chefs are being rotated into (karls) kitchen's regular menu, with each chef appearing for a live show-cooking session in the restaurant's open kitchen on selected dates between 29 September and 22 October 2026. Michael Neef, Breuninger's Director of Food & Beverage, said the concept is designed to make Michelin-level cooking approachable within customers' everyday routines. With more than 20 self-operated gastronomy outlets across Germany, Breuninger positions in-house dining as a core, deliberately recurring part of its retail experience.

IADS Notes: Breuninger's fifth edition of "Rausch der Sterne" extends a now well-established pattern of using gastronomy to animate its flagship stores. The retailer's own Spring/Summer 2026 campaign paired fashion with haute cuisine across a multisensory, omnichannel format (Fashion United, March 2026), while a city-partnered fashion-and-food festival in Freiburg showed the tangible footfall and dwell-time gains such events can generate (Freiburger Wochenbericht, September 2025). The guest-chef format itself mirrors moves elsewhere in the sector: Manor in Geneva brought a Michelin-recognised chef's street food concept into its in-house restaurant to sharpen its dining offer and draw new audiences (Press Release, April 2026), and Dior's Paris flagship restaurant earned its first Michelin star under a dedicated culinary programme, reinforcing how fine dining is increasingly used to signal prestige and deepen customer engagement in retail settings (WWD, March 2026).

Breuninger marks five years of culinary partnership with Michelin-star chefs

What:  Boyner is expanding its collaboration with the Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG) into a year-long culture and arts program at the Hatay Youth Campus, funded in part by shopping bag sales revenue.

Why it is important: The program shows Boyner scaling a one-off NGO collaboration into a sustained, multi-year commitment, echoing the structured cohort model it built with UNDP Türkiye's She LAB program.

Boyner is extending its collaboration with the Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG) to the Hatay Youth Campus, transforming last year's SanatİST project into a year-long culture and arts program. The first gathering, an "Impact Camp" held between September 1 and 4, brought together 23 young people from Hatay and other Turkish cities for workshops, expert-led talks and peer exchange, with participants expected to carry what they learned back to their home cities. A portion of revenue from shopping bag sales in Boyner stores will fund cultural and artistic activities at the campus throughout the year, which plans to reach more than 400 young people through workshops, gatherings, trips and music events.

Aslı Demir Gönül, Boyner's Deputy General Manager of Marketing and Brand Management, framed culture and art as central to the company's long-term social benefit approach, describing the aim as giving young people a space to create, learn and develop ideas together. TOG General Manager Seçkin Karataş said the Hatay Youth Campus offers a living space for young people to reconnect and design a shared future, and that the expanded collaboration with Boyner will support social solidarity through year-round production processes.

IADS Notes: Boyner's collaboration with TOG at the Hatay Youth Campus extends a pattern of building long-term social investment and brand identity through cultural and creative programming rather than one-off activations. The retailer's earlier partnership with UNDP Türkiye on the She LAB sustainability-leadership program, reaching 250 young women through mentorship and hands-on training (Press Release, February 2025), shows a comparable model of NGO collaboration scaled to a defined cohort over time. Boyner's broader emphasis on creativity and culture as brand pillars is also visible in its Art Pieces initiative, which has expanded artist collaborations on limited-edition tote bags into a fifth series (Press Release, June 2026), and in a dialogue-free brand film built around themes of shared belonging (Press Release, August 2026). Together, these examples place the Hatay Youth Campus partnership within a broader Boyner strategy that combines NGO collaboration, artist-led creativity and cultural storytelling to generate both community impact and brand narrative.

Boyner brings young people together with culture at the Hatay Youth Campus

What:  s.Oliver and long-standing partner Breuninger marked the launch of the "Casual Since Forever" campaign with a Stuttgart flagship event featuring Heidi Klum, a live talk in the store's Karlspassage, and a limited Vintage Capsule Collection pop-up.

Why it is important:  It reinforces Breuninger's own pattern of repurposing its Stuttgart flagship as an experiential stage for major brand partnerships, following its adidas World Cup activation there earlier in 2026.

Breuninger turned its Stuttgart flagship into the stage for the launch of s.Oliver's new campaign, "Casual Since Forever," with brand face and supermodel Heidi Klum appearing in person on Tuesday evening.

The event centred on a live conversation between Klum and broadcaster Frauke Ludowig staged in the store's Karlspassage dome, where the pair discussed fashion, personal style and what the campaign's message means to them.

The campaign itself contrasts Klum with her own 1990s self, using the shift to argue that trends change while personal identity endures — a theme Breuninger's management linked to its own 145-year history of hosting guests beyond conventional shopping.

To bring the concept into the store, Breuninger launched an exclusive pop-up of a limited Vintage Capsule Collection, letting shoppers explore the look themselves.

Access to the evening was tiered: customers could reserve tickets in advance for a Meet & Greet with Klum, while those without tickets could still watch the presentation and talk from the store's upper floors overlooking the Karlspassage.

Breuninger Stuttgart's managing director framed the evening as reflecting the retailer's broader identity: bringing fashion together with experiences that build community around the brand.

IADS Notes:  The Heidi Klum appearance fits a wider pattern of retailers pairing celebrity presence with pop-up retail and ticketed access to convert star power into in-store engagement, as seen when Galeries Lafayette timed a Céline Dion-themed pop-up and premium concert access to the singer's Paris comeback (Fashion United, September 2026). Breuninger itself has leaned on personality-led storytelling elsewhere this year, building its own 145th-anniversary campaign around individuals sharing personal reflections across several markets (Press Release, September 2026), and has previously used the same Stuttgart flagship as an experiential stage, turning Eduard's Bar into a World Cup fan venue during its adidas partnership (Press Release, June 2026). The use of a global brand face to anchor a retail relaunch also echoes Frasers' rebrand of House of Fraser, which was fronted by a celebrity-led campaign starring Cat Deeley (Fashion Network, March 2026). Meanwhile, the ticketed Meet & Greet format sits alongside a broader shift toward monetising exclusivity through structured access, illustrated by Selfridges' invitation-only "40 Duke" club for its top-tier loyalty members (WWD, August 2026).

Breuninger stages s.Oliver campaign launch with Heidi Klum in Stuttgart

What: Tomás Platovsky will become corporate general manager of Falabella Retail on 1 October, succeeding Francisco Irarrázaval after nearly two decades with the company.

Why it is important: The appointment signals continuity through internal promotion at a moment when Falabella Retail is pushing to nearly double its online sales share and deepen its digital-physical integration.

Tomás Platovsky will become corporate general manager of Falabella Retail on 1 October, succeeding Francisco Irarrázaval after nearly two decades with the company. He joined Falabella in 2007 as Diadora brand manager, quickly moving to lead the sports division before overseeing stand-alone stores, regional management in eastern Chile, and commercial roles across Chile and the region. He later became regional commercial manager for Chile, Peru, Colombia and Argentina, then general manager in Chile, before taking on his new corporate role.

Before Falabella, Platovsky worked at Banco Security and at Lounge, a specialty-store chain where he managed supplier relations in Europe and China; an expected partnership through stock options never materialised, prompting his move. He studied Business Engineering at Chile's Pontifical Catholic University and later completed an AMP at Harvard.

His mandate now spans deepening digital transformation — with online sales potentially reaching half of total revenue — alongside e-commerce, marketplace sellers and Sodimac across Chile, Peru and Colombia, plus evaluating inorganic growth and new stores, particularly in Peru. His appointment followed strong 360-degree performance reviews and was approved by the boards of Falabella Retail and its parent group.

IADS Notes: Francisco Irarrázaval's departure after six years as Falabella Retail's corporate general manager, and Tomás Platovsky's appointment as his successor, were reported by La Tercera in September 2026, which detailed the incoming leader's mandate across Chile, Peru and Colombia. The digital push Platovsky is expected to accelerate builds on momentum already visible at Falabella: Perú Retail reported in September 2026 that the group's technology investment rose 60% during the year, funding AI-driven personalisation, a Sodimac virtual assistant and logistics efficiency gains that are converting spend into measurable returns. The regional priority placed on Peru echoes a wider pattern among Latin American department-store groups, with Modaes reporting in August 2026 that rival Ripley posted a 59.8% second-quarter profit jump on 13.5% growth in its Peruvian retail business, even as its home Chilean market softened. Platovsky's rise through internal promotion also has recent regional parallels: a Press Release in August 2026 announced that Central American group Almacenes Siman had named a 14-year internal veteran as its new CEO, continuing a broader trend of family- and institution-anchored succession among Latin American department-store groups.

Challenges for Tomás Platovsky, new leader of Falabella Retail

What: John Lewis has launched an in-store hologram activation at its Oxford Street flagship to mark Dyson's entry into oral care with its £420 CameraJet toothbrush.

Why it is important:  It reflects how department stores partner with manufacturers entering entirely new categories, using flagship real estate to generate buzz and credibility for a brand's first move into unfamiliar territory.

Dyson unveiled the CameraJet earlier this month, a toothbrush that films the inside of users' mouths as they brush, offering what the company calls "coverage mapping and personalised feedback." Dyson said the device took six years to develop, with its research showing that people consistently miss plaque between their teeth. Founder and chief engineer James Dyson said the goal was to solve three problems at once: helping users see the gaps they miss, remove plaque more effectively, and improve overall cleaning performance while brushing.

John Lewis is marking Dyson's entry into this new category with a dedicated in-store display, including a pop-up in the bathroom area of its Oxford Street store. Shoppers entering through the Holles Street entrance will be able to see a projection. John Lewis said it wanted to "deliver something disruptive to bring breakthrough technology like this to life" and create "a genuine moment of discovery" for customers.

IADS Notes:  The Dyson hologram activation extends a pattern of premium-positioning moves John Lewis has pursued over the past year. The retailer's revamped stores already carry a "premium" retail media proposition designed to attract high-end advertisers and elevate the customer journey through its first-party data and expanding portfolio of exclusive brands (Retail Week, November 2025). That same period saw John Lewis build a direct-shipping supplier platform with Mirakl and luxury footwear brand Russell & Bromley specifically to speed the onboarding of premium brands, part of a wider ambition under Peter Ruis to elevate the fashion offering and double the division's business (Fashion United, October 2025). The Dyson hologram fits the same logic in a new category: rather than advertising space or brand assortment, it uses in-store spectacle to stage a premium personal-care launch and reinforce Oxford Street's role as a showcase for high-end category entrants.

John Lewis launches hologram activation with Dyson's £420 toothbrush

What: John Lewis Partnership's pre-tax loss widened to £124m for the 26 weeks to 1 August 2026, up from £88m a year earlier, even as Partnership sales rose 2% to £6.3bn.

Why it is important: The results show that even 2% Partnership sales growth cannot offset the increased cost of doing business, deepening losses just as Will Kernan takes over John Lewis department stores from Peter Ruis and inherits the newly launched Rise turnaround plan.

John Lewis Partnership's loss before tax and exceptional items widened to £124m for the 26 weeks to 1 August 2026, from £88m a year earlier, even as Partnership sales rose 2% year on year to £6.3bn. Sales at the John Lewis business itself fell 2% to £2bn, which the retailer attributed to the discretionary market becoming more challenging.

The John Lewis brand's adjusted operating loss widened to £83m, from £53m, reflecting softer trading, cost growth and continued investment in the brand's transformation. The retailer leaned into targeted promotional and clearance activity while maintaining what it called disciplined stock management, under which full-price sales grew 5.5%.

Chair Jason Tarry pointed to strong customer satisfaction and better performance at transformed stores as grounds for confidence, while stressing that the Partnership's employee-owned structure lets it take a longer-term view on losses. John Lewis said it remains cautious for the second half, with its full-year outcome hinging on peak trading, though it described itself as well set up for Christmas.

The results follow the departure of John Lewis managing director Peter Ruis on 6 September, replaced by non-executive board member and former River Island chief executive Will Kernan.

IADS Notes: John Lewis Partnership's widened first-half loss and the leadership handover from Peter Ruis to Will Kernan extend threads already in play across recent coverage. The Rise turnaround plan Kernan now inherits was set in motion just before this week's results, with chair Jason Tarry targeting over £100m from a unified loyalty scheme and £180m from retail media against a weakening UK consumer backdrop (Financial Times, September 2026). Ruis's own exit, confirmed as an orderly, board-level succession with Kernan stepping up from a non-executive role (Fashion Network, August 2026), was read at the time as a test of continuity precisely because it landed just ahead of interim results — a contrast drawn explicitly against Harvey Nichols' distressed sale to Frasers Group, which exposed how unevenly UK department stores are weathering the same conditions (The Guardian, August 2026). Tarry's framing of the Partnership's employee-owned model as what allows it to take "the longer-term view" on losses echoes an argument the business has made before: when it reinstated a modest 2% staff bonus in March 2026, it did so alongside a £21m pre-tax loss tied to technology write-downs, explicitly balancing profitability against that same ownership ethos (Fashion Network, March 2026). The "increased cost of doing business" Tarry now cites is not a new pressure either: a 6.9% shop-floor pay rise announced in February 2026 came with an acknowledgment that H1 2025 revenue had grown 5% while profits were hit by Extended Producer Responsibility charges and National Insurance costs — the same structural cost inflation now weighing on the half just reported (Press Release, February 2026).

John Lewis losses grow amid increased cost of doing business