De Bijenkorf is a premium department store chain in the Netherlands, owned by the Selfridges Group which also includes the Selfridges, Holt Renfrew and Brown Thomas department stores in the UK, Canada and Ireland.
In 2014, De Bijenkorf made the strategic decision to close its Arnhem and Enschede stores and appointed Hilco as its partner to manage the process.
Our Role
- Managed all aspects of the store closures on behalf of the retailer, providing store-level and head office support
- Guaranteed the minimum recovery achieved from selling the retail inventory
- Supplied €2 million of additional augment stock at no financial risk to De Bijenkorf
- Utilised Hilco’s proprietary Dutch POS to emphasise urgency and maximise recoveries, customised to fit the client’s display fixtures
- Honoured existing promotions that were running concurrently in the core estate
- Sold unwanted furniture, fixtures and equipment
Results
- Guaranteed minimum return exceeded by 21%
- All unwanted fixtures, fittings and equipment sold in situ through the closure event
- Provision of high quality augment stock enhanced total recoveries and Hilco shared the gross margin with the retailer
- Stores left ‘broom clean’ for handing back to landlords
- Successfully removed the distraction of operating profitable stores closures from De Bijenkorf’s management team, allowing them to focus on operating their core business