John Lewis to debut in Netherlands in partnership with Bijenkorf

British department store John Lewis is to open seven shop-in-shops in Dutch department store chain de Bijenkorf over the next two years, marking its debut in continental Europe.

"We decided to open our shop-in-shops at De Bijenkorf, because they target the same customers as John Lewis does," says Laura Askew, communications manager online and flagships at John Lewis.

For now, the shop-in-shops will only sell homewear and lifestyleproducts. According to Askew, the company does not have plans to add other products in the near future.

The first three will open in de Bijenkorf’s flagship stores in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague by April next year, and the rest will follow by 2017.

John Lewis managing director Andy Street said the decision to open in the Netherlands was made after its shop-in-shops in South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines, opened over the past two years, proved a success.

In May and July this year, John Lewis opened 14 shop-in-shops across Singapore and the Philippines and by last year had opened seven shop-in-shops in South Korea.

The retailer is committed to expanding its physical space in the UK, and said it plans to announce more international collaborations in 2016.