INNOvative Retail BV, (commonly referred to as Inno, and formerly known as Galeria Inno) is an upmarket Belgian department store chain that operations sixteen branches around Belgium.[1]
History
In May 1897, A l'Innovation opened in Brussels.[2][3] The department store was founded by Julien Bernheim.[3]
In 1925 following the death of Julien Bernheim, his son Émile Bernheim began to lead the company.[3]
The Rue Neuve flagship (constructed between 1901 and 1903 and designed by Victor Horta) was destroyed in a fire which killed either 251 or 325 people depending on the source.[5][6] The incident is however the deadliest fire in Belgian history.[7] It was after this incident that the department store rebranded from Innovation to Inno.[6]
Inno expanded into France in March 1962 with a hypermarket format,[8] however in 1964 due to poor sales a majority stake in Inno-France was sold to Galeries Lafayette.[9][8] The management of the stores was taken over by Galeries Lafayette in 1965,[9] in 1971 the stake was upped to 88% and Inno no longer held shares in the company.[10] The management of Inno France was taken over by Monoprix and in 2013 the final Inno-France stores were closed.[11]
In 1969 the company merged with Bon Marché (unrelated to the French Le Bon Marché) to create Inno-BM.[12] Then in 1974 Inno-BM merges with GB to create GB-Inno-BM (later renamed to GIB Group).[13][12]
Galeria Kaufhof purchased the chain in April 2001, with this Galeria was added to the chain's name to become Galeria Inno.[14] In 2015 a majority shareholding in Galeria Kaufhof was purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company from Metro AG,[15][16]
The chain rebranded from Galeria Inno to Inno in 2021 and for the first time the brand opened a web shop.[18] A new store format also began to be rolled out across the brand following the first with the Schoten branch in 2020.[18][19]
Former logo used from 2004 to 2021
Plans to sell Galeria Inno were announced in late 2023,[20] in July 2024 it was announced that Axcent (Swedish retail group, majority shareholder of Åhléns) and Skel (Icelandic investment group) would purchase the company for an undisclosed amount.[21][22]
.svg){kind=logo}
