The insolvent department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof will soon start talks with the potential investor Markus Schön. The managing director of the online retailer Buero.de expressed his interest in a partial takeover of the branches last week. It was not yet clear whether and how Galeria would react to his offer.
The company confirmed to FashionUnited that there should be a face-to-face meeting between Arndt Geiwitz, General Manager of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, and Markus Schön “soon”. “In terms of content, we can therefore not yet comment on the ambitions,” said a spokesman for Geiwitz by email on Saturday.
Interested in over 40 branches
Schön had announced his plans and ideas for Galeria in some German media since Thursday. According to a report in the Bild newspaper, Schön expressed his interest in taking over around 40 Galeria branches from the department store group on Tuesday. Schön’s offer followed a day after Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof again had to seek rescue in protective shield proceedings. The investor had not yet responded to a request from FashionUnited.
Calling him a savior is a stretch, emphasized Schön in an interview with the broadcaster N-tv, but confirmed his interest in a total of 47 Galeria branches. These are branches in medium-sized cities such as Düren, Paderborn, Bad Homburg and Fulda, most of which are currently presumably not profitable and which he suspects are threatened with closure. A lack of profitability is not an exclusion criterion for him, that can ultimately be changed.
Irrespective of the meeting with Schön, the chief representative, Arndt Geiwitz, will start talks with the Galeria landlords as soon as possible. In addition to the rent, there are issues such as land use, energetic renovations or modernization measures. “Whether a site can be preserved will also depend heavily on these talks.” Galeria recently announced that it wanted to close 40 of 131 branches.
Online model for department stores
Energy prices are certainly a challenge, Schön said in an interview with N-tv, but he doesn’t want to speculate about cost reductions. The goal is “to make a profit again”. He plans to transfer the concept from Buero.de, an online shop for office supplies, to stationary retail in order to improve the shopping experience and thus profitability.
The assortment could definitely be changed and he also sees potential for change in the presentation of the goods at some locations, but he relies in particular on the employees of the company. “For years, the employees have been hearing that their work is not worthwhile and is not profitable at the locations, and yet they come to work every day motivated and really pull in,” said Schön to N-tv.
Schön hardly gave much thought to finding a name, but the new name would be “less bulky” than Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof.
The managing director of Buero.de would like a takeover before Christmas, reports the trade journal Textilwirtschaft. You can also get the financing “fixed,” he said. The interest in Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof has existed for some time, but previous inquiries to Miguel Müllenbach, the CEO of the department store group, remained unanswered.