Douglas is expanding into Wallonia

Last Thursday, Douglas opened its first store in Wallonia. It is already the fourteenth location in Belgium, where the German beauty retailer launched in 2023.

Competition on the horizon

Douglas’s fourteenth Belgian store opened on Thursday, March 19, in the Ville2 indoor shopping center in Charleroi, which has thus secured a strategically important new tenant. It is the German retailer’s first store in the Walloon Region. The chain opened its first Belgian store in August 2023, at Wijnegem Shopping, and has maintained a steady pace of expansion in the country ever since, though until now, expansion has been limited to Flanders and Brussels.

Douglas store openings invariably draw hundreds of interested customers hoping for a goodie bag. The retailer is particularly adept at appealing to Gen Z with a selection of exclusive brands and plenty of buzz on social media. Soon, however, the company will face stiff competition in the Belgian market: in June, French rival Sephora will open its first store in Brussels, followed by a second location just one month later.