By Marco Zitzow and Johannes C. Bockenheimer
The department store chain Galeria Kaufhof (131 branches) is about to go out. Thousands of employees fear for their jobs. But now an investor is giving them hope!
Galeria Hammer! “We want to save Galeria Kaufhof,” promises Markus Schön to BILD. He is managing director of the online retailer Buero.de and wants to save the ailing company.
“We believe in the future of this traditional brand in combination with our online experience and could help save thousands of jobs!”
Schön has therefore registered an interest with the management for around 40 endangered department store branches. He is particularly interested in locations in medium-sized cities: on his wish list are branches in Bad Homburg and Fulda in Hesse, in Goslar in Lower Saxony or in Wismar (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania).
The negotiations should soon become concrete: Schön started talking to the insolvency administrator on Tuesday. “We very much hope that the group will respond to our offer and thus make it possible to save the branches and jobs.”
Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof filed for bankruptcy under self-administration on Monday. Insolvency administrator Arndt Geiwitz announced tough cuts. Only a hard core will remain of the now 131 department stores, he told WDR. Which ones will be decided in three months at the latest.
Wants to save Galeria Kaufhof: Buero.de boss Markus Schön Photo: Private
A protective shield procedure is aimed at restructuring. A court-appointed administrator takes over the supervision of the rescue, but the company management retains control and is advised externally.
Galeria boss Miguel Müllenbach assured in a letter to the employees on Monday that the situation in the individual branches looked “very different”. There are many successful and promising locations – but also some that can no longer be operated profitably in the foreseeable future. The closure would enable Galeria to carry out further modernization measures, “because there are more funds available for fewer branches”.
It is already the second protective shield procedure by Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. In 2020, around 40 branches were already closed and around 4,000 employees lost their jobs. At the end of September 2020, Galeria left the protective shield again after the creditors approved the restructuring plan.
▶︎ In February 2021 and February of this year, the department store group also received state aid totaling 680 million euros. The loans were quickly used up in view of the rise in energy prices and customers’ reluctance to buy as a result of inflation.
In his letter to employees, Müllenbach complained that the pandemic, inflation and energy costs had led to people’s purchasing behavior being at a “uniquely low level”. In addition, during the pandemic, the frequency in the city centers and purchases from stationary retailers had fundamentally collapsed. New government loans would “burden too much” on the company.