Berlin's KaDeWe department store is so iconic that it was not only immortalized in world literature by Vladimir Nabokov, but has also just been canonized in a television series. Even though the series "Eldorado KaDeWe" is set in the Roaring Twenties, the title couldn't be more fitting: "Now is our time"—a sentiment that could just as easily apply to the KaDeWe of today. After all, it's the third most important landmark in Berlin, and the new escalator, designed according to a master plan by the architectural firm OMA, has just been unveiled. The KaDeWe Group, which also includes the Alsterhaus in Hamburg and Oberpollinger in Munich, has ambitious plans: with further stores in Düsseldorf and Vienna, it aims to soon reach the billion-euro mark in revenue.

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FCG: The KaDeWe Group, with KaDeWe in Berlin, Oberpollinger in Munich, and Alsterhaus in Hamburg, is one of the largest retailers in Germany. What is your vision for the department store of the future?

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André Maeder: It should be a place of encounter, inspiration, joy, fascination, and passion. People don't just go there to shop, but to meet others and experience something. That's what's modern, and that's what people will need in the future. Over the past five years, we've tackled every space in KaDeWe, not only architecturally redesigning it but also recurring the product range, adjusting opening hours, and expanding our events. KaDeWe is constantly evolving with changing collections and pop-ups, services, and events that make the place more interesting. The overall concept was conceived by Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon of OMA, but beyond that, we have designers who make the individual spaces and departments unique, for example, India Mahdavi from Paris for the women's designer area. We're not just a department store for fashion or accessories; we bring together five pillars to create interconnected worlds of experience. Fashion, Home, Beauty, Food, and Accessories & Luxury aren't separate but flow seamlessly into one another through these vertical worlds of experience. That's unique. The Alsterhaus and Oberpollinger department stores have also been renovated, and our guests can expect special themed areas there as well.

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FCG: You launched your online shop in 2020, coinciding with the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In your opinion, what does e-commerce offer that department stores don't, and what do they perhaps have in common?

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AM: You can no longer think of them separately. Today's customers research everything, regardless of what they buy or where they buy it; they don't consciously choose between online and brick-and-mortar retail. But they still want a multi-sensory experience. KaDeWe is a brand, and the department store is an experiential world, which we naturally also offer online. In the future, we will expand all our channels significantly. Not only is our product range constantly being expanded digitally, but new brands are added every day, and we will also bring services and events online.

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FCG: The KaDeWe department store in Berlin has been undergoing extensive renovations for years, based on plans by the renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, creating new spaces and offerings. How do you manage to balance international offerings with local relevance?

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AM: KaDeWe has always been a department store of international caliber. This includes international luxury brands, but local brands are also important to us. It makes no sense to visibly separate these collections. The architects at OMA created quadrants that vertically link the individual areas, each subdivided into "Casual," "Contemporary," "Modern Classic," and "Design." We mix local brands with international brands, such as Lala Berlin or Schumacher in the Contemporary section. We do the same in Home & Living and Cosmetics. The exciting part is combining all these interesting brands into a curated selection.

Our gourmet food floor, the sixth, is one of the most important and best in the world. We also have our own production facility for confectionery and all baked goods. Even if you buy a French apricot tart, it's 100 percent homemade in-house. That's very local. Of the 25 restaurants, ten are from Berlin. They're Italian, Thai, or Vietnamese restaurants from Berlin that we bring in. That's very important to us, also in other areas like fashion and home.

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FCG: What criteria are used to include new brands and collections in your product ranges, and what role do sustainability, inclusion, and innovation play in this process?

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AM: We have 24 buyers who are constantly traveling the world, searching for the right brands and a distinctive selection. For example, eight years ago we offered 250 pepper mills at KaDeWe. That's far too many; today we offer 30. It's about the right size and composition of the assortment. Naturally, we select based on criteria of quality and design, but also for a balanced mix that incorporates both local and international brands. We also consider the stores themselves. How large is the store? What kind of neighborhood is it in? What kind of customers do we attract? At Alsterhaus, 80 percent of our customers are from Hamburg, while at KaDeWe, half the visitors come from Berlin – we take all of this into account when selecting and assembling our assortment. Does a brand fit the store, the local area, and the customers?

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FCG: What are your plans outside of your Berlin, Hamburg and Munich locations (e.g., Vienna, Düsseldorf)?

For each store, we have a world-renowned architect responsible for the overall concept, but also nearly 40 designers and architects in total, each responsible for the individual areas and departments within. In Düsseldorf, David Chipperfield will oversee the renovation of Carsch Haus. Carsch Haus will become a 10,000m² concept store, very edgy and featuring many new brands in the contemporary and affordable luxury sectors. The store draws on the aesthetics of Harvey Nichols in London and Barneys in New York from the 1990s and will offer a digital experience with technologies that are currently unimaginable. Vienna is much larger in terms of floor space and located in a completely different environment on Mariahilfer Straße. The store is still in the planning stages, but it is intended to be a concept store for the city of Vienna and the coolest and most modern department store in Europe. As in Berlin, the architectural firm OMA, with Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon, is responsible for the overall concept. As with our other houses, for the two new locations we also selected the architects and designers based on their ability to understand the city and translate that into the houses.

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We thank André Maeder for the interview.