DFS to shut its iconic division retailer in 2025 in Venice, Italy

The Obligation Free Buyers (DFS) Group, the Hong Kong-headquartered journey retailer managed by luxurious big LVMH, introduced on Friday, November 15, the closure in 2025 of its T Fondaco dei Tedeschi division retailer situated in Venice. DFS Group cited financial difficulties as the rationale for its determination, as the shop has been accumulating losses for the reason that pandemic and the autumn within the variety of Asian vacationers.

DFS Group stated it is not going to renew the lease on the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, a thirteenth century constructing near the famed Rialto Bridge, when it expires in September 2025. The 7,000 sqm retailer, a temple of luxurious procuring, was inaugurated in 2016. Positioned close to the well-known Rialto Bridge, it overlooks the Grand Canal and was the primary European location for DFS.

“This troublesome determination is a part of a worldwide restructuring … pushed by the very difficult financial scenario and outlook that DFS and the journey retail sector have been dealing with globally, and particularly by our Venice retailer’s troublesome outcomes,” the group stated in an announcement.

DFS added that “its main aim is to reduce the social impression” for the shop’s staff, whose quantity is estimated at round 220 folks by the press.

The group manages 400 factors of sale worldwide, unfold throughout 15 key airports and 18 T Gallerias in prestigious places in vacationer metropolis centres

Within the third quarter, LVMH’s “selective distribution” division, which incorporates the DFS group but additionally Sephora, Le Bon Marché and La Samaritaine, recorded a 3.6% drop in its turnover, to three.9 billion euros.