Loeb (company)

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Loeb Holding AG

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1881
Seat Bern , Switzerland
management
  • Ronald Christen ( CEO )
Number of employees 360 (December 31, 2016)
sales 87.6 million CHF (December 31, 2017)
Branch Retail trade
Website www.loeb.ch

Loeb is a Swiss retail company based in Bern .

history

Loeb Bern exterior view

From 1869 the Jewish merchant family Loeb ran a small shop in Freiburg im Breisgau . Moses Loeb, the founder, was one of the first to pick up on a trend; he rents stalls at the weekly markets. At that time, weekly markets were held twice a year in larger cities in Switzerland for a period of two weeks. Moses Loeb was one of the first traders to sell all goods at fixed but extremely low prices. The success was resounding, so that permanent locations were opened. A shop was opened in Zurich in 1874 and one in Basel in 1876. Shops in Lucerne and St. Gallen were also added. These locations were given up for various reasons (including succession issues such as in Basel).

On September 9, 1881, David, Julius, Louis and Eduard Loeb opened a small textile shop at Spitalgasse 32 in Bern under the name Gebrüder Loeb. The income on the opening day was around 150 Swiss francs. David and his wife Fanny took over the business in 1891 and in 1899 it became the first modern department store in Bern and was housed in the properties at Spitalgasse 51 and Schauplatzgasse 38, which had been converted into a commercial building. The new store offered retail space on three floors and was run by 60 employees. After six years, a water- powered lift was installed up to the third floor.

The sons Arthur and Eugen took over the company in 1905 and they opened a branch in Thun in 1912 . In 1914, the business premises on Spitalgasse were enlarged after the adjacent properties were acquired, and a tearoom was opened in 1915 . The company was converted into a public limited company in 1918 . In 1929 the business was given its current form after the Hotel Löwen was demolished and the business was rebuilt and expanded. In the same year Arthur's son Fritz joined the management.

In 1940, a pension fund was established in the form of a foundation of the company , which until 1971 had no obligation to pay contributions for employees. A warehouse was moved into at Ziegelackerstrasse 10 in 1952 and the first escalator went into operation in the Bern store in 1956 . In 1964, a self-service grocery department was opened in Bern.

In 1973 the company changed its name from Gebrüder Loeb AG to Loeb AG . In 1975, after the death of his father Victor , François Loeb took over the management of the company and in 1976 an employee committee was created to represent the interests of the employees. In 1978 around 900 employees were employed and in 1987 Loeb-Holding AG was founded. Several new branches throughout Switzerland were opened in the 1960s and 70s and the existing business expanded.

In 2005, François Loeb retired from the company. Peter Everts became Chairman of the Board of Directors, followed by Urs Berger. Nicole Loeb (* 1967) took over the position of Delegate of the Board of Directors of Loeb Holding AG and is still an executive member of the group management of Loeb Holding AG. The married mother of two is the fifth generation to run the Loeb company. Marc Loeb became a non-executive director.

As of 2018, the Board of Directors consisted of a majority of members who were independent from the shareholders and who had retail experience in order to guarantee the professionalism and independence of decision-making - that year it was Urs Berger, Werner Krättli and Paul Häring. The management of Loeb AG has been independent of the majority shareholders since 2004: Members are Ronald Christen (CEO), Franz Wittwer (CFO), Beatrice Zürcher (CHRO) and Martin Stucki (CDO).

strategy

The Loeb retail strategy has been working on customer orientation, profitability and complexity reduction since 2005. This led to several branch closings and sales. In 2006, three Loeb branches were sold to Mode Bayard and in 2008 the resulting capital share in the then Bayard Wartmann fashion group was sold to the Bayard family. Smart was sold in 2008. The real estate portfolio was continuously adapted to the market opportunities. Digitization was advanced with the introduction of article-specific inventory management in 2004 and 2015. Several store concepts were tested. The current retail strategy comprises four areas of focus:

  • Department stores in Bern, Thun and Biel
  • Brand stores (Street One, Cecil, Gery Weber, Eva Kyburz) in Basel, Bern, Thun Biel and Friburg and Zurich.
  • Maggs in Bern, Aarau and Basel
  • Loeb runs an online household goods shop and cooperates with online marketplaces

The Loeb company is committed to social projects in the Bern region. As part of a social partnership, Loeb supports a non-profit organization every year, among other things with a share of the proceeds from Sunday sales.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Andrea Weibel : Loeb. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . July 28, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Kevin Chen: History. Loeb AG, accessed on June 8, 2019 .
  3. ^ Serge Jubin: Nicole Loeb, les dates clés. Le parcours de la fille. In: Le Temps . August 28, 2009, accessed June 8, 2019 (French).
  4. ^ Meitschi us Bärn: Nicole Loeb. In: Bärner Meitschi. April 6, 2016, accessed February 25, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Ueli Kneubühler: Nicole Loeb: "Already said dead 1000 times". In: bilanz.ch . November 12, 2013, accessed June 8, 2019 (interview). Loeb AG. In: unibe.ch . August 19, 2016, accessed June 8, 2019 .
  6. ^ Rudolf Wenger: Loeb: Investment in the future. (pdf, 88 kB) Loeb AG, April 28, 2008, archived from the original on August 17, 2016 ; accessed on June 8, 2019 . History. In: modebayard.ch. Retrieved June 8, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Loeb Group 2017 Annual Report (pdf, 1.8 MB) Loeb Holding AG, March 15, 2018, p. 36 , accessed on August 1, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Commitment. Loeb AG, accessed on June 8, 2019 .