The French luxury department store group Galeries Lafayette will close its Berlin location to customers at the end of July, several months earlier than previously announced. A spokeswoman for the group confirmed earlier reports on the BZ (formerly Berliner Zeitung) website on Thursday evening. The department store will close on July 31 so that the premises can be handed over to the owner by the end of the year, the spokeswoman said. According to the media report, employees were informed of the closure at a staff meeting on Thursday. 190 employees are affected. The company did not comment on th…