After department store V&D collapsed earlier, the (physical) curtain has also fallen for electronics chain Dixons. The retailer's shops will all close and the company will continue as an internet shop. Some Dixons shops will restart under the banner of Phone House, iCentre or MyCom.
Dixons had 30 stores in the Netherlands. Most of the chain's employees will be able to find work elsewhere. Relevant Holdings, Dixons' parent company, will transfer staff to the company's other formulas. The company will invest heavily in its retail brands in the coming period. Earlier, Dixons made a restart after the retail chain was declared bankrupt. Relavant Holdings took over the shops, but has now decided to close the branches and turn them into internet shops. According to the owner, an internet retailer offers the most perspective.
Staff retained
Henk Kamsteeg, chairman of Relevant's Supervisory Board, is happy that staff will not be out on the street, but will be offered new jobs at other shops. "I have come to know the new Dixons colleagues in recent weeks as highly skilled, motivated and extremely well-trained, true specialists in consumer electronics, with a heart for our customers. I am therefore delighted that we managed to retain most of them for our formats."
Shop run well
Relevant Holdings also acquired iCentre a few months ago and that retail chain is running well. The integration is going according to plan partly because good agreements have been made with suppliers, such as Apple. The shops are performing above expectations and so the range will soon be expanded to include phone subscriptions. Besides iCentre, other shops were acquired from BAS Group, whose portfolio included Dixons. The logistics centre in Almere is rapidly being expanded as it also handles the stock of Phone House, Optie1, Typhone.nl and MyCom. Now iCentre and dixons are already supplied from Almere.
Investments
Relevant Holdings is not sitting still in the coming period, as the holding company plans to invest heavily. The company wants to focus on revamping the physical shopping environment. For instance, customers should always be able to count on expert advice and an omni-channel IT environment will be integrated that should ensure flexibility in online and offline shopping.
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