German retail group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is strengthening its grip on its Belgian department store chain Galeria Inno: the German Armin Devender is the new CEO, succeeding the Belgian Stefaan Le Clair.
Experienced retail manager
Devender is an experienced retail manager who can look back on a career of more than 25 years at Galeria Kaufhof in Germany. Since January he has been CEO of Hudson’s Bay Netherlands, whose activities are coming to an end soon. Stephan Fanderl, CEO of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, thinks that Devender’s expertise will push the Belgian chain to fully develop its potential as a leading department store and hopes it can return to the brand’s strength and continue to develop the business with strong brand partners.”
Le Clair has been in charge of Galeria Inno since November 2017, for nine months he also led Hudson’s Bay Benelux. Galeria Inno operates sixteen Belgian department stores and has been part of the Galeria Kaufhof group since 2001. The latter was taken over by Canadian Hudson’s Bay in 2015 and more recently it merged with its great rival, Karstadt. The Belgian department store chain has been able to maintain a relatively autonomous course within the group until now, but whether this will continue to be the case in the future is an open question.
