LVMH unit to close historic Venice department store

DFS Group, the Hong Kong-based travel retailer controlled by luxury giant LVMH, said on Friday it was shutting down its business in Venice’s historic Fondaco dei Tedeschi building.

DFS said it would fire over 220 employees, according to trade unions and Venice city councillor Simone Venturini.

“This difficult decision is part of a global restructuring … driven by the very challenging economic situation and outlook that DFS and the travel retail sector have been facing globally, and in particular by our Venice store’s difficult results,” the group said in a statement.

DFS told the unions it had accumulated losses of about 100 million euros ($105.36 million) in the last five years at its Venice store, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a decline in Asian tourists, said Nicola Pegoraro from the CISL union.

The company said in its statement that it will not renew the lease at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, a 13th century building close to the famed Rialto Bridge, when it expires in September 2025.

It added however that it planned to keep the store open during the first part of next year.

DFS, which also operates the renowned Samaritaine department store in Paris, opened its business at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in 2016.