190 employees affected
Galeries Lafayette in Berlin will close at the end of 2024
October 4, 2023, 8:10 p.m
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For a long time it was a highlight of Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse – the Galeries Lafayette. But the French are closing their luxury department store. The company says in detail that customers are increasingly absent. In addition, the landlord is not interested in further cooperation.
The only German location of the French department store chain Galeries Lafayette will close at the end of 2024 after almost 30 years. The department store announced that the rental agreement for the branch on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin with the property owner Tishman Speyer will not be extended. Operations should cease as soon as the rental agreement expires at the end of 2024. The employee representatives were informed about the step.
The department store will do everything it can to provide the store’s 190 employees with the best possible support throughout the entire process, it said. The announcement to close the branch is “a consequence of changing consumer habits in Germany and the significant changes in the city’s retail market,” the company said in a statement.
The plans do not come as a surprise. It has been known for a long time that the rental agreement expires at the end of next year. Galeries Lafayette has repeatedly emphasized in recent weeks that it is currently negotiating an extension of the contract with the owner. However, the owner, the US real estate developer Tishman Speyer, had always emphasized that he was not interested in a solution for the department store beyond 2024. Now the department store has also given up hope of reaching an agreement.
There are already advanced plans for subsequent use: Berlin’s Senator for Culture Joe Chialo would like to house the central and state libraries in the building. Meanwhile, Galeries Lafayette, a central attraction on Friedrichstrasse for Berliners and tourists, is disappearing. In 1996, the department store moved into the building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. In addition to fashion and jewelry, many visitors are particularly drawn to the lower restaurant and gourmet area. It is one of the few branches of the French chain outside of its own country.