The workwear provider Engelbert Strauss GmbH & Co. KG is further expanding its international retail presence: In the new Bauhaus specialist center in Vienna’s Sandleitengasse, the company is opening its first workwear store on over 700 square meters as part of a retail partnership – also the first location outside of Germany. The official opening took place on February 19, 2026. Strauss has had a subsidiary in Austria since 1996.
With the permanent location in Vienna, Strauss follows four successful pop-up formats in MetaStadt, a multifunctional event and event space in Vienna’s 22nd district, and is establishing a permanent presence in Austria for the first time. Workwear for men and women will be offered, as well as the new esline.core line from autumn 2026, which was developed exclusively for cooperation with the Bauhaus hardware store.
The sales partnership between Strauss and Bauhaus was announced in 2024 and started in 2025 with temporary shop-in-shop concepts in four Bauhaus specialist centers in Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne and Bremen and in Prague, Budapest, Zurich and Madrid in autumn 2025. The first permanently installed store in Vienna marks the next scaling step in the Europe-wide wholesale rollout. “Bauhaus has an owner structure like us, we wear the same colors and quickly found each other. We knew from the start that the partnership offered huge potential for scaling – we are pleased that we are now making this a reality with the Europe-wide wholesale rollout and the Vienna workwear store,” says CEO and owner Steffen Strauss.
From August 2026, Strauss Workwear will be regularly available in 144 German and 59 other European Bauhaus specialist centers.
Strategically, Strauss is expanding its previous location concept with the inner-city location in Vienna and is increasingly addressing urban, DIY-savvy target groups. The cooperation with Bauhaus is also seen as a blueprint for further international retail partnerships. After entering the North American market in 2023, the company is also looking into expanding into other regions, including Japan and Oceania.
