While the luxury brands worldwide open one after another (monobrand) store and shop spaces in luxury streets are hard to get, discount and average formulas announce the closing of stores. Dutch shoe giant “Schoenenreus” with 200 stores, earlier this month asked for deferred payment. This week Macintosh Retail Group, the mother company of stores like Dolcis, Scapino, Manfield and Kwantum, announced the close-down of 110 stores, 80 of them in the Netherlands. It might not be by accident that these stores at the lower part of the market show problems. The combination of low margins, restrained consumer behavior and the competition with web shops, kill the sales of these stores. Interesting to see what will happen in the optical branch where margins start to become under pressure as well. We have mentioned earlier that quality stores seem to have the best opportunities these days. No wonder exactly these stores are ready to invest in new shop interiors, renovations and intensive marketing campaigns to gain even more marketshare.
