After great consideration we will close our three stores in Germany after trading on 22 June
2019, to focus efforts on our UK, Irish and Channel Island business.

Germany was our first choice for European expansion outside the UK and ROI with the first
store opening in Oberhausen in 2015, followed by Ruhr Park later that year and Essen opening the following year.  Over the past few years these markets have changed considerably in a constantly evolving retail landscape, not least with the impact of Brexit.

“Since opening, the stores have received exceptional feedback and despite the trading headwinds I am so proud of the achievement of having been able to open in another country in a foreign language with such high acclaim from customers and vendors alike. This is testament to the exceptional work that has been invested by our Divisional Manager, whose project this was, and testament to all our staff employed across Germany for whom we can only thank them for their valuable input. We are sorry they will not be part of the schuh/Genesco family moving forward.” Colin Temple, Managing Director, schuh. Our German website www.schuh.eu/de will continue to trade, all orders will fulfilled by our UK warehouses.

“Our retail focus will now be solely on our UK, Irish and Channel Islands store estate and strong ecommerce business. We have recalibrated schuh significantly over the last 12 months, working hard to transform our business under very difficult trading conditions. We have experienced challenging sales, margin pressure as a result of a highly promotional retail environment and marketplace constraints minimising our ability to leverage fixed property expenses. Strategically we are focused to deliver initiatives to further enhance customer experience this year, including our new transformational 2020 store design, CRM personalisation and drive brand awareness via customer out of home and digital recruitment.

“We are working closely and collaboratively with our key brand partners to deliver greater activations in market as we continue to review our buying structure. Across the last few days our Divisional Manager and Retail Director have visited the three German sites to communicate the update in person and offer support throughout this transition.”