Luxury: Westons sell Selfridges department stores for nearly 5 billion euros

Owned by the Weston family since 2003, the prestigious Selfridges department stores are changing hands. Selfridges, one of the most luxurious and famous department store chains in the world, will pass under the Thai and Austrian flag, sold by the wealthy Canadian family Weston for 4 billion pounds to Central Group associated with Signa. A source familiar with the matter confirmed that the amount of the transaction, which was not officially disclosed, was around 4 billion pounds (4.7 billion euros).

Selfridges, founded in the UK at the turn of the 20th century, has 25 stores around the world, the most famous and largest of which is on Oxford Street, London’s most important shopping thoroughfare. The operation involves 18 sites, with the Weston family retaining its 7 Canadian Holt Renfrew stores.

Central Group and the Signa real estate group “have entered into a final agreement phase for the acquisition of Selfridges Group,” the Thai group said in a statement Friday. In addition to the prestigious Selfridges on Oxford street, the transaction includes stores in Manchester and Birmingham, as well as the Bijenkorf brands in the Netherlands, and Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland.

The Weston family bought the brand in 2003 for £ 598 million. It also holds a majority stake in the British group Associated British Foods, the parent company of low-cost clothing stores Primark. Selfridges Group President Alannah Weston said she was “proud to hand over to new owners who are family businesses with a long-term vision.” She trusts them to lead our “incredible team further and further”.

Selfridges, founded in the United Kingdom at the turn of the 20th century by the American Harry Gordon Selfridge, had recently suffered like most British businesses from a disaffection with stores by customers increasingly attracted to online shopping. This trend accelerated with the Covid-19 pandemic, which led it last July to announce the loss of 450 jobs, 14% of its workforce.

Selfridges also recently launched a second-hand clothing or ready-to-wear rental service, to give itself a more “environmental” image, and more recently garden centers in its stores. Its competitor John Lewis also wants to develop the second hand, knowing that the image of the world of fashion and luxury suffers more and more from its very harmful impact on the environment.

“Together, we will work with the world’s greatest architects to sensitively reimagine the stores at each site, transforming these iconic destinations into sustainable, energy-efficient and modern spaces, while remaining true to their architectural and cultural heritage,” said said Dieter Berninghaus, Chairman of the Executive Board of Signa.

“As family-owned businesses, Central and Signa will focus on providing exceptional and inclusive experiences in store and online, both for local residents and international visitors,” said Tos Chirathivat, Managing Director of Central. Central is owned by the Chirathivat family, whose fortune stands at $ 11.6 billion according to Forbes, and includes numerous malls, electronics stores and mini markets across the kingdom, and in Asia.

Galen Weston, father of Alannah Weston, died this year at the age of 80, was at the head of a fortune estimated in 2020 by Forbes at some 7 billion dollars. In recent years, the group has grown considerably in Europe where it already has, in partnership with Signa, luxury stores in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark.