Retail trade Globus CEO expects to be in the black by the end of 2026

According to its CEO Franco Savastano, the Globus department store chain is not expected to return to profit for a good two years. The manager said in an interview with "NZZ am Sonntag" that the company would be back in the black by the end of 2026.

"To achieve this, we need the store at Bellevue in Zurich, which we will open in November. And the Globus in Basel, which will open on November 1, 2025," said Savastano. "Then we will have much more volume with similarly high fixed costs."

The retailer, which was completely taken over by the Thai Central Group at the end of September, has recently changed its offering. "Globus used to be product-driven, today we are brand-driven." Suppliers are dying out in the middle segment, which is occupied by chains such as Zara from Spain and H&M from Sweden. "So we have to move up a level," explained Savastano. "Since we started selling Louis Vuitton and other luxury brands on the first floor in Zurich, our space productivity has doubled."

Following the bankruptcy of former co-owner Signa and the insolvency of sister company KaDeWe in January, Savastano had to personally intervene with suppliers to secure supplies for Globus. The suppliers only wanted to deliver on prepayment.

"I personally picked up the phone and spent four or five days calling every major partner with our purchasing team," said Savastano. "The matter became personal. I put my reputation on the line for Globus." In the end, only 20 of the thousand suppliers no longer participated.

"The days of working from home are over"

In the interview, the Globus boss also commented on working from home: "The days of working from home are over." Working from home has been largely abolished at Globus. "Maybe I'm old school, but we mustn't forget: We earn the money with our people in sales," said Savastano.

Globus has just under 200 employees who work in offices. The remaining 2500 work in stores. The new directive at Globus is: one day of home office per week, but not on Monday or Friday.

SDA