Selfridges Group has appointed André Maeder as its new CEO. He is making the move from German department store group KaDeWe.
25 luxury department stores
The 64-year-old will take over in May 2024. At the end of this month, he will quit KaDeWe, the group that unites Germany’s three most prestigious luxury department stores: KaDeWe in Berlin, Alsterhaus in Hamburg and Oberpollinger in Munich.
Maeder is seasoned in the luxury department store sector: he previously worked at Harrods, Hugo Boss and Karstadt. At Selfridges Group, he will be in charge of 25 luxury department stores across four brands: Harrods in the United Kingdom, Arnotts and Brown Thomas in Ireland, and De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands. Since a year, the group is owned by a Thai-Austrian consortium of retail holding company Central Group and property investor Signa, holding equal shares.
“Department stores play an important role in society, in the city”, Maeder said in an interview with RetailDetail a few years ago. “We inspire you, we put you in a dream world, we show you products you might never own. It is all about inspiration and aspiration. We do not sell socks, we sell dreams.”
