Bankrupt department store V&D relaunches as e-tailer

By

Shomara Roosblad

Published
Sep 6, 2018

Bankrupt department store V&D has announced that it will relaunch. The Dutch retailer, which first opened its doors in 1887 said on Tuesday that it will continue as an e-tailer, launching 5 September.

As an online store, V&D will target men and women aged 40 and above, and will offer products in the categories of fashion, travel, hobbies, health, living and garden. The e-tailer will again partner with former suppliers and plans to offer its well-known brands such as Liv, Soho and Prijzencircus to its customers.

The e-tailer will be headed by director Alexander van Slooten, who previously managed the online activities of online department store, Wehkamp. Since 2016, Van Slooten has been the e-commerce director at Coolinvestments Group, which owns the retailers American Today, MS Mode, Sapph and Coolcat.

Department store V&D filed for bankruptcy in December 2015 and officially closed its doors in February of 2016. The bankruptcy had a great impact on suppliers and shop-in-shops, such as Perry Sport and Aktiesport, which went bankrupt themselves a few months after, before relaunching under UK company JD Sports in 2016. During its heydays, V&D operated more than 70 branches across the country.

In June 2016, the Dutch entrepreneurs Roland Kahn (Coolinvestments Group), Jaco Scheffers (Coolinvestments Group) and Ronald van Zetten (former chairman at Hema) announced that they acquired the V&D brand portfolio to soon launch a V&D online store. However, today’s relaunch still came as a surprise for Dutch consumers and media.

In April 2017, Coolinvestments Group launched Frendz, a social commerce platform that operates the V&D brand, School Campus.