Ex-Patagonia director Matthijs Visch announced as the new CEO of the Bijenkorf

Matthijs Visch will be the new CEO of department store chain de Bijenkorf. He will be taking over from Giovanni Colauto on Friday, who has been the highest executive of the retail company since 2012. Visch had been a director for the European activities of the outdoor clothing brand Patagonia for the last two years.

Before he started working at Patagonia, which often prides itself on sustainable ideals, he worked for Nike. One of his positions included being the general manager of the sporting brand in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

André Maeder, CEO of the Selfridges Group, the parent company of the Bijenkorf, said he is happy with Visch’s appointment. He thanked Colauto for his “important contribution to the Bijenkorf, which lasted over two decades.”

Colauto became the financial director of Bijenkorf in 2001 and became CEO eleven years later. The company said that “improvements and optimization of the store portfolio were implemented” while he was in charge.

The company refers to the fact that five of the 12 Bijenkorf branches were closed in 2013. The department stores in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Maastricht, Eindhoven, and Amstelveen remained, as did the webshop.

Bijenkorf announced in that year that they would focus more on selling luxury items in the future.