V&D

Background

Founded in 1887 as Vroom & Dressmann, V&D grew to become the largest department store chain in the Netherlands, trading from 67 stores. A late entrant to ecommerce and facing increasing competition on the high street from value fashion retailers such as H&M and Primark, V&D began to struggle in the early 2010s.

The business formulated a turnaround plan which included targeting its property overheads through renegotiating rents and closing unprofitable stores. In 2014, V&D decided to close its Den Haag Leyweg store and outsourced the process to Hilco Capital to manage end-to-end.

Hilco Capital’s role

• Deployed a team of retail specialists to manage all aspects of the store closure
• Provided additional head office support
• Guaranteed the minimum recovery achieved from selling the retail inventory
• Funded and supplied additional augment stock at no financial risk to V&D and shared the gross margin achieved with the client
• Created bespoke, Dutch POS which adhered to V&D’s brand standards
• Honoured existing promotions which were running in the core estate
• Sold unwanted fixtures, fittings and equipment in situ

Results

• 92% sales uplift achieved
• Guaranteed minimum return exceeded by 52%
• All unwanted fixtures, fittings and equipment sold in situ through the store closure event
• Store void period at the end of the sale minimised, reducing occupancy costs
• Store left ‘broom clean’ on schedule for handing back to the landlord
• Removed the distraction of operating profitable store closures from the retailer’s management team, allowing them to focus on operating their core business