Department stores are no longer successful in France but also in Germany. Their travel agencies will suffer the same fate!
Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is the second largest department store group in Europe with 131 locations and approximately 18,000 employees. The group, which is owned by Signa Holding, was born in 2019 from the formerly independent companies Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt. Germany’s last major department store group wants to close 52 of the remaining 129 department stores and lay off 5,000 employees. This was announced by the group itself and its general works council
We had some examples in France
We have already seen it in France, the Galeries Lafayette stores in the Province are under threat. After the judicial liquidation of Camaïeu in September then the placement in receivership of the Go Sport brand on January 19, the turn of the 25 Galeries Lafayette stores affiliated in the provinces, which also belong to Hermione Retail, the distribution branch of the Financière immobilière bordelaise of Michel Ohayon, to worry about their cash flow.
A German distribution giant that is not doing very well
Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof has had to seek refuge in insolvency proceedings for the second time in less than three years. In a letter to employees at the time, CEO Miguel Müllenbach cited skyrocketing energy prices and falling consumption in Germany as the reason for the company’s dire situation. From the outset, the leader left no doubt that the renewed restructuring would involve significant cuts to the branch network and significant job cuts.
Nothing is going well despite aid
In early 2021 and again in early 2022, the shrunken retail giant had to seek state support due to the pandemic. In total, the Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF) helped the traditional company in two aid campaigns to the tune of 680 million euros – without success.
Galeria’s general representative, Arndt Geiwitz, who had already accompanied the first procedure as a restructuring expert, was recently convinced that thanks to the second protection shield procedure, there was still a prospect for the department store group. . “I am convinced that the Galeria department stores have a future, even if they are not in their current form”, underlined the expert in an interview. However, the retail giant is expected to become smaller and more decentralized. Galeria will hopefully turn a profit again “in three calendar years.” Before that, other losses were certainly incurred due to restructuring costs, for example for conversions
21 stores are to be closed by June 30, 2023
Celle, Coburg, Cottbus, Duisburg Düsseldorfer Strasse, Erlangen, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen, Hamburg-Harburg, Hamburg-Wandsbek, Leipzig Neumarkt, Leverkusen, Munich Station, Neuss, Nuremberg Königstrasse, Nuremberg-Langwasser, Offenbach, Paderborn, Regensburg Neupfarrplatz, Saarbrücken at the station, Siegen, Wiesbaden Kirchgasse.
The closure of 31 other stores is also scheduled for January 31, 2024:
Bayreuth, Berlin-Charlottenburg, Berlin-Müllerstraße, Bielefeld, Braunschweig, Bremen, Darmstadt at the white tower, Dortmund, Düsseldorf Schadowstraße, Essen, Esslingen, Frankfurt Zeil, Hanau, Heidelberg Bismarckplatz, Hildesheim, Kempten, Krefeld, Leonberg, Limburg, Lübeck , Mönchengladbach, Oldenburg, Pforzheim, Reutlingen, Rosenheim, Rostock, Schweinfurt, Siegburg, Stuttgart-Eberhard-Strasse, Viernheim-RNZ, Wuppertal.
