Magasin is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

chain of department stores. It has seven department stores with its flagship store located on

Kongens Nytorv Kongens Nytorv ( lit. "The King's New Square") is a public square in Copenhagen, Denmark, centrally located at the end of the pedestrian street Strøget. The largest square of the city, it was laid out by Christian V in 1670 in connection wit ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. The company is a subsidiary of the German department store retailer Peek & Cloppenburg Düsseldorf, Magasin du Nord has been a founder and remained member of the

International Association of department stores The International Association of Department Stores (IADS) is a retail trade association founded in 1928 by a group of department stores with the goal of introducing modern management methods derived from the scientific management movement to their ...

since 1928.

History

The company traces its roots back to 1868 when Theodor Wessel and Emil Vett opened a draper's shop in Aarhus under the name Emil Vett & Co. It was an immediate success and in 1871 moved to

Immervad Immervad, previously Emmervad, is a pedestrian street in Aarhus, Denmark, which runs north to south from Lille Torv to Åboulevarden and Frederiksgade. The alley ''Sankt Clemens Stræde'' leads to Immervad from the east. The street is situated in ...

where the Aarhus store is still located. In 1870 the company opened a shop in Copenhagen in rented rooms in the mondain Hotel du Nord on

where Hans Christian Andersen had boarded from 1838 until 1847. The shop occupied an ever larger part of the hotel and the company adopted the name Magasin du Nord after it in 1879. In 1876 the two owners also founded a textile manufactury in Nørrebro, Vett, Wessel & Fiala, which later moved to

Østerbro Østerbro () (literally, "Eastern Bridge") is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located just north of the city centre, outside the old city gate Østerport which, after it was moved around 1700, used to be located clos ...

where it also produced textiles for furniture. The factory has now been demolished. By 1889, Magasin du Nord had taken over the entire hotel. It was demolished in 1893 together with a neighbouring building and the current department store building was completed the following year in a French

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

style to designs by the architects Henri Glæsel and Albert Jensen. The executive architect was Olaus Mynster. The company opened branches throughout Denmark. In 1892, it had 50 stores all over the country and by 1906 the number had grown to 98. In 1911 the Th. Wessel & Vett branch followed in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

. The company was listed on the

Copenhagen Stock Exchange The Nasdaq Copenhagen, formerly known as the Copenhagen Stock Exchange ( da, Københavns Fondsbørs), is an international marketplace for Danish securities, including shares, bonds, treasury bills and notes, and financial futures and options. ...

in 1952 and the strategy was changed to having fewer, large department stores. In the winter of 1954, toy buyer Troels Petersen advised Gotfred Kirk Kristiansen from Lego Group that he gather the "cut-and-dried" individual toys they had been making into a larger "play system". Magasin du Nord took over its competitor Illum in 1991 but it was sold to Merrill Lynch in 2003. The company was controlled by Emil Vett's until the mid-1990s. To reduce its debts after a period with economic difficulties, the company chose to part with its buildings at Kongens Nytorv, in

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site ...

and in Aalborg in a

sale and lease back Leaseback, short for "sale-and-leaseback", is a financial transaction in which one sells an asset and leases it back for the long term; therefore, one continues to be able to use the asset but no longer owns it. The transaction is generally done fo ...

scheme. In 2004, Magasin du Nord was sold to an Icelandic consortium headed by

Baugur Group Baugur Group (; Icelandic language, Icelandic: ) was an Icelandic investment company. The group began as a supermarket and general retail company in Iceland, before diversifying to own a number of businesses at its peak, primarily in the United Ki ...

. Baugur's bankruptcy in 2009 ceded Magasin du Nord to Straumur Investment Bank which subsequently entered into a joint venture with Pakistani businessman Alshair Fiyaz under the name Solstra Holding, which bought back what had previously been sold. Magasin du Nord was acquired by

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish ...

in November 2009 while Solstra kept the 20% share of Illum and all properties. In May 2010, Fiyaz took full ownership of Solstra. In December 2010, he sold the properties in Lyngby, Aarhus and Odense to ATP and PensionDanmark for an estimated price of DKK 1.5 billion, keeping only the flagship building at Kongens Nytorv. In September 2020, financially troubled Debenhams put its seven store Danish chain, Magasin du Nord, up for sale. In May 2021 the company was acquired by Peek & Cloppenburg KG, Düsseldorf.

Department stores

Kongens Nytorv

Other branches

Magasin du Nord has three more stores in the Copenhagen area, located in the Field's shopping centre in

Ørestad Ørestad () is a developing city area in Copenhagen, Denmark, on the island of Amager. The area was developed using the new town concept, closely linked with the M1 line of the Copenhagen Metro. Economically, income for the plan would be genera ...

and in the suburbs of

and

Rødovre Rødovre is a town in eastern Denmark, seat of the Rødovre Municipality, in the Region Hovedstaden. The town's population 1 January 2019 was 39,907, and in addition 145 persons had no fixed address, which made up a total of 40,052 in the munic ...

. The chain further comprises branches in the cities of

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

, Aarhus and Aalborg.

Museum

On 2 February 2013, an exhibition about Magasin du Nord's history opened at the Kongens Nytorv store. It illustrates more than 150 years of retail history in Denmark. It is run by the Magasin du Nord Foundation.

Magasin du Nord Fashion Prize

The

Magasin du Nord Fashion Prize The Magasin du Nord Fashion Prize is awarded annually by the Magasin du Nord, Magasin Foundation to an up and coming Danish fashion designer or brand. The winner receives Danish krone, DKK 300,000 and a fashion show during Copenhagen Fashion Week i ...

is awarded annually to a Danish fashion brand or designer. With a grand prize of DKK 300.000, Magasin du Nord Fashion Prize is Denmark’s largest design award.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 55.6793, 12.5847, type:landmark_region:DK, display=title Companies based in Copenhagen Shops in Copenhagen 1868 establishments in Denmark Purveyors to the Court of Denmark Companies based in Copenhagen Municipality