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New Selfridges owners plan to open small ‘regional’ department stores around the world
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Selfridges’ new owners plan to open small ‘regional’ department stores around the world.
Bosses are also open to finding new locations in the UK for their growing brand stable.
The American retailer Harry Gordon Selfridge opened the first store in London in 1909.
History: American retailer Harry Gordon Selfridge opened the first store in London in 1909
Last year, Selfridges was bought by Thai department store group Central and Austrian property company Signa for a £4 billion deal, which also involved Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland, de Bijenkorf in the Netherlands and Holt Renfrew in Canada.
Central and Signa also own Rinascente in Italy, Illum in Denmark, Globus in Switzerland and KaDeWe in Germany.
Stefano Della Valle, chief executive at Central Group’s European arm, told the Financial Times he saw opportunities in the UK but had no specific plans.
“Our strategy is to not only stay in capital cities with stores of 20, 30, 40,000 square meters, but also have a presence in secondary cities or even small towns,” he added.