Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof
| Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof GmbH iI
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|---|---|
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1881 in Wismar |
| Seat |
Essen , Germany
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| management |
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| Number of employees | 28,000 |
| sales | 4.79 billion euros (2017) |
| Branch | Department store / retail |
| Website | www.galeria.de |
The Galeria Kaufhof, Karstadt GmbH in bankruptcy (in the proper spelling Galeria Kaufhof Karstadt GmbH) is a Europe-wide acting German department store group .
History and description
Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, based in Essen, has been the second largest department store group in Europe (after El Corte Inglés ) since 2019, with 243 locations across Europe and around 28,000 employees. The sole owner is the Austrian Signa Holding , which in June 2019 bought the remaining shares from the Canadian Hudson's Bay Company for around 1 billion euros.
Mergers
Karstadt and Kaufhof have been appearing in Germany under the common name Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof since March 25, 2019 . Since June 2019, not only the German Kaufhof and Karstadt branches have been united under the umbrella of the new holding company, but also the Karstadt sports stores, the European branches of the outlet chain Saks Off 5th , the Galeria Inno department stores in Belgium, the recently established Hudson's Bay department stores in the Netherlands (which were closed as of December 31, 2019) as well as a number of internet providers.
Shortly before the final merger of the two department stores in January 2020, an agreement was reached with the Verdi union . The new collective bargaining agreement excludes redundancies due to operational reasons until 2024 due to a location security. In addition, the salary of Karstadt employees will be raised to that of Galeria Kaufhof employees, which corresponds to an increase of 11 percent. To finance this new contract, among other things, the salaries of executive employees will be reduced. The speed of restructuring should also enable salary increases to be raised soon.
In November 2019, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof took over 106 of a total of 125 branch travel agencies as well as the e-commerce platform Golden Gate from the insolvent Thomas Cook Touristik GmbH. The branch travel agencies operate under the Galeria Reisen brand .
In December 2019, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof took over the sports retailer Sportscheck , thereby expanding the sporting goods division by 1,300 employees and 17 shops.
On January 27, 2020, through a registration with the federal competition authority, a cooperation between Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof and Fiege Logistik became known. This merger is intended to increase the efficiency of logistics. The Fiege Group holds 51 percent of the joint venture and the company's headquarters are to be built in Greven.
Economic difficulties
On April 1, 2020, the company announced that the management had submitted an application to the Essen District Court to initiate protective shield proceedings for Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof GmbH and its subsidiary Karstadt Sports . The company is severely affected by the closure of its branches in the wake of the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences. In order to protect Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, the application has already been granted.
On May 15, 2020, several media reported unanimously that the company's management would draw up a restructuring concept by the end of June 2020 [out of date] . The background is an expected loss of billions in sales as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 18, the group announced the closure of 62 of the 172 existing branches in 47 cities, up to 6,000 jobs are to be cut. Cancellations are also to take place at Karstadt Sports (closure of 20 of the existing 30 branches), as well as the travel agencies and the Essen headquarters. In addition, negotiations are being held with the lessors of the department stores about a reduction in rental payments. On July 1, 2020, insolvency proceedings were applied for at the Essen district court. The Essen district court thereupon ordered so-called "insolvency proceedings in self-administration" for the department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof and eight other subsidiaries. In addition to the department stores of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, Karstadt Sports, Galeria Logistik, Sportarena, Le Buffet, Dinea Gastronomie, Karstadt Feinkost, Atrys I (travel agency branches) and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th Europe are also affected by the insolvency proceedings. The "insolvency procedure in self-administration" follows on from the previous protective shield procedure. Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof and Karstadt Sports submitted the drawn up insolvency plans with the details of the restructuring concept to the court.
In parallel with the plans to close the 62 department store branches, actions are being taken in the affected cities to prevent the closure. On July 3, 2020, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof announced that only 56 department stores were to close instead of 62.
Others
After the CEO Stephan Fanderl had not exercised his office for months for health reasons, the company announced the mutual separation on June 10, 2020. Miguel Müllenbach, who has been a member of the management of Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH in the finance and human resources department since 2012, was named as his successor .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof: Group boss Fanderl throws down
- ↑ Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof closes 62 branches, from more than 5000 employees. Retrieved June 26, 2020 .
- ↑ The imprint of Galeria.de. Read and get informed now. Retrieved July 1, 2020 .
- ↑ Münchner Merkur: Karstadt and Kaufhof: Austrians take over traditional department stores completely - at this price , June 10, 2019
- ↑ Tessa Guntlisbergen: Hudson's Bay confirms: Dutch department stores will finally close at the end of the year. September 20, 2019, accessed on July 2, 2020 (German).
- ^ Agreement in the wage dispute at Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. Stern, December 20, 2019.
- ↑ Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof takes over Cook branches. In: touristik-aktuell.de. November 19, 2019, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Cook branches become Galeria Reisen. In: touristik-aktuell.de. January 3, 2020, accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof takes over Sport Scheck from Otto. Handelsblatt, December 11, 2019.
- ↑ Benkos Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof opens its own logistics line. Standard, January 31, 2020.
- ↑ Press portal from April 1, 2020
- ↑ Der Spiegel: Cross-off list: Do these branches of Karstadt-Kaufhof. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Der Spiegel: Karstadt Sports branches also have to close. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Karstadt Sports closes 20 branches , WAZ.de , June 21, 2020
- ↑ Up to 80 department stores are to close. In: tagesschau.de. May 15, 2020, accessed May 16, 2020 .
- ↑ Radio Essen: Essen: Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof goes into bankruptcy. Retrieved July 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Insolvency proceedings opened for Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. Retrieved July 2, 2020 .
- ^ Gregor Beushausen, Bastian Pietsch: Galeria-Karstadt-Demo: Around 250 people protest against closure. Retrieved July 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Hundreds protest with a human chain against the closure of the Kaufhof | View - Chemnitz. Retrieved July 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Department stores: Karstadt Kaufhof closes fewer branches - Leverkusen also saved. Retrieved July 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Ailing chain of department stores: Miguel Müllenbach is to become the new boss of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. In: Manager Magazin. June 22, 2020, accessed June 22, 2020 .