Benetton to exit Belgium

Benetton is leaving Belgium: the fashion brand is closing its remaining stores (including those in Galeria Inno department stores) and cuts 29 jobs.

“Each time worse results”

It does not come as a big surprise, but now the final decision is made: Benetton is leaving the Belgian market. The results are not good enough and – worse – they get worse each time“, Belgian newspaper La Libre quotes from a letter to the 29 employees. All of them will see their jobs terminated.

Benetton has been reducing its presence in Belgium for a while now, closing its store in Brussels last year and its final ‘real’ store in Antwerp last March. The only physical points of sale the Italian brand still has in Belgium, are shop-in-shops at Galeria Inno and an outlet in Messancy (near Luxembourg).

However, the contract with Galeria Inno currently ends early next year, and the Italians have now said they will not extend it. The outlet store will last a year longer, until early 2020. On 6 October, the 29 employees will be given more information about the end of their company.