Retailer to open seven shop-in-shops with The Netherlands’ leading department store
LONDON, 2015-11-17 — /EPR Retail News/ — In a first for the retailer, John Lewis has announced it will have a physical presence in Europe by opening shop-in-shops within seven branches of The Netherlands’ leading department store, de Bijenkorf.
The first three shop-in-shop departments will open in spring 2016 at de Bijenkorf’s flagship stores in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. This will be followed by additional openings in Eindhoven and Utrecht by the end of next year and in Amstelveen and Maastricht in 2017.
The John Lewis departments will be between 300 sq ft and 500 sq ft in size with the retailer’s in-house store design team designing the look and feel of the retail space.
On offer to customers will be the best of John Lewis’s own brand home and lifestyle products across bed, bath, living and gifting assortments.
Today’s announcement builds on John Lewis’s ambition to increase awareness and engagement with more international customers and to expand its existing international presence. Throughout May and July 2015, John Lewis opened 14 shop-in-shops across Singapore and the Philippines and by 2014 had opened seven shop-in-shops in South Korea.
Andy Street, Managing Director, John Lewis, said: ‘We’re delighted to be debuting our first European shop-in-shop and de Bijenkorf is the perfect partner to enable us to bring John Lewis to a new customer base and country. Our existing shop-in-shops in Singapore, the Phillipines and South Korea have been well received and are trading well. Whilst we remain committed to our UK physical expansion we hope to announce more international collaborations in 2016’.
Notes to editors
John Lewis – John Lewis operates 45 John Lewis shops across the UK (32 department stores, 11 John Lewis at home and shops at St Pancras International and Heathrow Terminal 2) as well as johnlewis.com. It is part of the John Lewis Partnership, the UK’s largest example of worker co-ownership and all 30,000 John Lewis staff are Partners in the business. John Lewis, ‘Best Clothing Retailer 2015’ , ‘Best Electricals Retailer 2015’ and ‘Best Homewares Retailer 2015’1, typically stocks more than 350,000 separate lines in its department stores across fashion, home and technology. Johnlewis.com stocks over 280,000 products, and is consistently ranked one of the top online shopping destinations in the UK. John Lewis Insurance offers a range of comprehensive insurance products – home, car, wedding and event, travel and pet insurance and life cover – delivering the values of expertise, trust and customer service expected from the John Lewis brand.
¹Verdict Consumer Satisfaction Awards 2015
About de Bijenkorf – de Bijenkorf is The Netherlands’ leading department store with 10 physical stores and a website. Its flagship stores are located in iconic buildings in some of the country’s major cities including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag and Eindhoven.
Enquiries
For further information or images please contact:
Laura Askew, Communications Manager, Online & Flagships
Telephone: 020 7798 3396
Email: laura.askew@johnlewis.co.uk