Bolia: New store in Wiesbaden

Danish design furniture company Bolia's latest store will open in Wiesbaden, Germany, in mid-March 2024. “Germany holds a special place in our hearts, as it is our most important market. Wiesbaden’s dedication to well-being aligns perfectly with our design philosophy inspired by the serenity of Scandinavian nature. We look forward to meeting the people of Wiesbaden and sharing our passion for design with them”, says Thomas Bendiks Lauridsen, International Retail Director.

XXXLutz in Innsbruck reopens after complete renovation

The Lutz Group has invested around 2.5 million euros in its location in Innsbruck, Austria. The store reopened at the beginning of March after several months of complete renovation. In the new XXXLutz furniture store, the latest trends and insights of the Group from all over Europe are taken up and implemented in a bundled manner. The sales areas have been redesigned in both the specialist product and furniture departments - the bedroom department in particular has been extensively redesigned. The area of the boutique department was increased by 400 m2.

Otto Group: E-commerce revenues down

Due to the ongoing difficult economic environment, the Otto Group recorded a decline in global e-commerce revenue of around 9 percent to just under 10.8 billion euros in the financial year 2023/24. Despite this decline, the company plans to improve its operating profitability by continuing to invest in logistics, IT and customer-centric solutions in the field of artificial intelligence.

ICOC 2024 in Istanbul in June

The International Conference on Oriental Carpets (ICOC) is one of the most important meetings in the world of antique carpets and carpet research. ICOC XV will be held in Istanbul from 6 to 9 June 2024. In addition to a high-calibre programme of papers, delegates can look forward to a trade fair featuring major antique carpet dealers. The conference venue will be the Marmara Hotel on Taksim Square in the European part of the city.

Gaziantep Carpet Fair in May 2024

From 28 to 30 May 2024, a new trade fair will be held in Gaziantep, Turkey: the Gaziantep Carpet Fair. The event is organised by Tüyap Exhibitions Group in cooperation with the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce. The southern Anatolian city of Gaziantep is the centre of Turkish machine-woven carpet production and the fair will therefore focus on this product group. Exhibitors are not exclusively from Turkey; companies from Iran and Jordan have already registered. The majority of trade visitors are expected to come from the Middle East, the MENA region, North Africa and Europe.

TTL OP (TTL Süd) files for insolvency

According to media reports, German specialist retail chain TTL OP GmbH, based in Heidenheim, has filed for insolvency on 15 February. TTL OP, which until recently operated under the name TTL Süd, operates 27 interior design stores with around 400 employees in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate. The companies TTM Tapeten-Teppichboden-Markt (Suhl) and TTL Tapeten-Teppichbodenland Handelsgesellschaft (Hallstadt) are not affected by the insolvency.

Object Carpet: Red Carpet "Duo" is the star of the Berlinale

The Berlinale film festival takes place in Berlin from 15 to 25 February. Hollywood celebrities, film fans and cineastes from all over the world present themselves on the Berlinale Red Carpet. The secret star of this year's festival is once again the bright red floor that all guests walk on: Object Carpet's Duo carpet is, according to the manufacturer, the first recyclable carpet made of only two materials - and is also fully
and repeatedly recyclable.

Kika Leiner expects to break even in 2024

Austrian furniture chain Kika Leiner, which ran into difficulties last year, expects to break even in 2024. This is according to a report in the daily Kurier. According to the report, the 2022/2023 financial year, which ended in September, closed with a balance sheet loss of 114 million euros on sales of 597 million euros. The optimism is based on the implementation of key measures. These include the streamlining of the product range and the strengthening of private labels, whose share is to be increased from 20% to 30%. The biggest cuts have been made to the store network and staff. Last year, 23 out of 40 stores were closed and more than 1600 employees lost their jobs.

German e-commerce with double-digit decline in sales

The German E-Commerce Association BEVH reported e-commerce sales of 79.7 billion euros in 2023, the first double-digit decline compared to the previous year. At the same time, e-commerce's share of total retail sales fell from 11.8 to 10.2 percent. The furnishing cluster product groups performed comparatively well at the product range level. Home textiles reached a turnover of 1.6 billion euro, which corresponds to a below average decline of 8.7 per cent.

Associated Weavers: Deboodt new Managing Director

As of January, Sebastiaan Deboodt is the new Managing Director of the Belgian carpet manufacturer Associated Weavers (AW). The Master of Business Administration has taken over the responsibilities of AW's former CEO Erik Deporte, who left the company in September 2023. Deboodt was most recently an independent management consultant and also has many years of industry experience in the fibres and yarns sector.