House of Fraser is in advanced talks to be acquired by French department store chain Galeries Lafayette. Retail Week takes a look at the French department store chain.
- Galeries Lafayette has 65 global stores.
- Galeries Lafayette’s flagship store is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris.
- It sells fashion, luxury goods, beauty, watches and jewellery, leisure and interiors, gourmet food.
- In 2012 the group reported consolidated revenue of 2.3 billion euros and Planet Retail forecasts sales in 2013 will rise to $3.4bn.
- In March 2012 Retail Week reported Galeries Lafayette’s sales were up 4% and operating income rose 4.8% to €372m (£311m) in the 2011 financial year.
- It was founded in 1893 when two cousins, Alphonse Kahn and Théophile Bader joined forces to take over a haberdashery.
- It opened a store on Regent Street in London in 1920, which is no longer there, and has since expanded to cities including Berlin, New York, Dubai and Morocco.
- The department store’s parent company, Groupe Galeries Lafayette, has always been managed by the Moulin family, and is currently wholly owned by them.
- Ginette Moulin, granddaughter of the founder, is the current chairwoman of the supervisory board.
- Her son-in-law, Philippe Houzé, is chairman of the management board.
- The chain opened a store in Beijing in 2013, 15 years after leaving the Chinese market.
- The group owns a portfolio of brands, including BHV Marais, another French department store, as well as jewellery and watches brands Louis Pion, Royal Quartz and Didier Guerin.
- In 2012, Houze said the company is on the expansion trail, looking for fashion and jewelery brands so it could expand abroad.
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