Müller (retail chain)

Müller Handels GmbH & Co. KG
legal form	GmbH
founding	March 5, 1953
Seat	Ulm , Germany
management	Erwin Müller , Günther Helm
Number of employees	35,000 (06/2019)
sales	3.553 billion euros (2014/15)
Branch	retail trade
Website	www.mueller.de

The Müller GmbH & Co. KG is a German drugstore trading company with headquarters in Ulm , whose partner in since 2019 Vaduz registered MVG Beteiligungs-GmbH is. Previously, since 2004 it was Müller Management Ltd, registered in London .

history

On March 5, 1953, the hairdresser Erwin Franz Müller founded his first company. In 1968 branches with drugstores were opened in Munich and Karlsruhe, five years later the first pure drugstore followed. In 1976 the construction of administration and storage buildings began in Ulm-Jungingen and the first vehicle fleet was built. Two years later, sales of over 100 million D-Marks were achieved for the first time. Between 1980 and 1985, 59 new branches followed, and in 1985 Müller GmbH & Co. KG was established. and by 1990 another 86 branches were opened.

In 1990 the first East German branch opened in Gotha. A year later, the first Müller department store opened with all specialist departments in Ulm's Hirschstrasse. In the next few years, many more branches were opened in Germany and other European countries and other companies were taken over. By June 2019, 848 branches had been opened, 553 of them in Germany, 56 in Switzerland (through the takeover of Estorel AG ), 87 in Austria, 83 in Croatia, 38 in Hungary, 18 in Slovenia and 13 in Spain (Mallorca only).

In 1995 the Budapest Café Gerbeaud with 6000 m² of office space, including a grocery store on the outskirts, was bought and extensively renovated. Two years later, the company took over the toy retailer Obletter .

In 2004 the legal form was converted into a Limited & Co. KG .

In 2011 the company had an annual average of 24,218 employees. Sales in the 2010/2011 financial year amounted to 2.68 billion euros. The managing directors are Erwin Müller and Elke Menold. Hansjörg Plaggemars left the management in October 2013, his successor Wolfgang Lux left the company on March 31, 2014 after just five months.

In March 2015, Müller had 718 branches in seven European countries, with a total of around 31,000 employees and 800 trainees.

In Switzerland the company operates as Müller Handels AG Switzerland with its headquarters in Oberentfelden , in Austria as MHA Müller HandelsgmbH with its headquarters in Vienna .

At the beginning of 2017, Müller took over the Croatian drugstore chain Kozmo from the previous owner Konzum .

MVG Beteiligungs-GmbH, based in Vaduz in Liechtenstein, was founded in February 2019 and will act as a holding company in the future. This company is a personally liable managing partner of Müller Holding GmbH & Co. KG and Müller Grosshandels GmbH & Co KG, based in Ulm. Müller Management Limited and other British companies in the chain have been deactivated. The uncertainty due to the upcoming Brexit was given as a major reason for this restructuring .

Assortment structure and business areas

Shop in Loerrach

Interior of the shop on Kassel Koenigsstrasse

The Müller range includes the following departments / specialist stores: drugstore, multi-media, perfumery, toys, stationery, household and ambience, stockings, natural cosmetics, handicrafts, over-the-counter, non-pharmacy drugs (OTC), organic food and books. The extensive range covers all areas of daily needs and includes around 188,000 items.

In 2002 the Müller Sicherheits-Dienst Ulm GmbH (MSDU) was founded as the factory security of the Müller group of companies. It has an approval according to the Guarding Ordinance and over 450 alarm activation in the area of intrusion and fire alarm technology, video surveillance, emergency calls.

The Müller Ltd. & Co. KG held a 10.062% stake in Douglas Holding AG until December 2012 . At the end of 2012, the Douglas shares were sold for 162 million euros.

Awards

1998 "Goldener Zuckerhut" (branch Oscar) by the food newspaper
2004 "Echo" in the category of best trading partner
2006 Erwin Müller receives the Baden-Württemberg Founder's Prize
2008 LIMA Germany Awards - Award as the best trading partner
2009 LIMA Germany Awards - Award as the best trading partner
2009 Erwin Müller receives certification for senior-friendly service from the Ulm Senior Citizens' Council
2010 LARA Games Award - Award as the best trading partner in the field of electronic games
2011 Smago! Award - Schlager Music Award - Award as trading partner of the year
2012 Video Market - Awarded Dealer of the Year in the Sales category
2012 SMAGO! Award - best trading partner in the field of Schlager music
2013 SMAGO! Award - best trading partner in the field of Schlager music
2013 Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences - one of the top 5 employers in the region
2013 LIMA Award - best trading partner in the field of licensed products
2014 Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences - among the top 3 employers in the region
2014 LIMA Award - best trading partner in the field of licensed products
2014 SMAGO! Award - best trading partner in the multi-media sector
2015 Award - Germany's 2015 customer champions
2015 winner of the German Packaging Award in the field of cosmetics & hygiene
2016 Erwin Müller receives the Spa Diamond Award of Honor 2016 for his life's work
2017 Winner of the Spa Diamond Award in the category "Green Beauty Care"
2017 DEALER OF THE YEAR in the category "Perfumery" 2017/2018
2018 On June 21, Erwin Müller receives the Great Silver Medal of Honor with the star from Sebastian Kurz, the incumbent Federal Chancellor of Austria, for services to the Republic of Austria.
2018 Best recruiter - Bronze Seal 2017/2018: We were recognized by Best Recruiters for our particularly professional handling of applicants in the retail category.
2018 winner of the seal "Germany's best drugstores", awarded by Focus Money.
2018 Award of the DPS with the occupational health and safety award 2018. In the main category "Family business" and the sub-category "Quality and partnership development" Müller was able to successfully assert himself in the field of electrical operational safety.
2019 winner of the “Odabrale mame” survey (Croatia) - mothers choose the best drugstore
2019 Best recruiter - Silver Seal 2018/2019: Müller is recognized by Best Recruiters for his outstanding handling of applicants in the retail category.
2019 winner of the “International Salute to Excellence Award” in the categories “Personal Care” (Duchesse cotton swabs) and “Laundry / Dishwashing” (Blink fabric softener fiber protection). Product award for innovation and quality at the world's largest private label trade fair PLMA. The jury selects the best in the category from more than 500 products from 88 retailers.

criticism

Like other retail chains such as drugstores or discounters , Müller is criticized by the unions because of the working conditions . According to the critics, Müller tries to prevent his employees from electing works councils .

In addition, Müller is said to have illegally researched his employees according to a newspaper report. The company collects detailed information about illnesses of employees, reported the Süddeutsche Zeitung on April 17, 2009. Employees at Müller have to provide regular information about their state of health. In the course of this report, audits were carried out by the Baden-Württemberg data protection supervisory authority, which led to the imposition of a total fine of 137,500 euros on two companies in the group.

The situation is similar in Austria, where an employee was terminated after it became known that she wanted to set up a works council in a branch. This reason for the termination was denied by Müller. However, the private employees' union also testifies to the resistance to a works council . There are also complaints about unauthorized bag checks by employees in front of customers, as well as locker checks without employees being present.

Web links

Commons : Müller - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Consolidated financial statements for the business year from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014 in the Federal Gazette

↑ ^a ^b Liechtenstein Fatherland: Müller moves to Vaduz. In: Liechtenstein Fatherland. April 19, 2019, accessed October 16, 2019 .

↑ Wirtschaftswoche: Erwin Müller: The King of Drugstores. Retrieved October 16, 2019 .

↑ Annette C. Müller, Mike Dawson: Brexit consequences: Müller moves to Liechtenstein. April 18, 2019, accessed October 16, 2019 .

↑ Müller Wholesale Ltd. & Co. KG: Müller Germany: Facts. Retrieved March 11, 2018 .

↑ Commercial register, changes and additions. In: Wiener Zeitung - Official Gazette No. 199. October 12, 2017, accessed on July 19, 2018 .

↑ Njemački Müller preuzeo drogeriju Kozmo . ( vecernji.hr [accessed March 11, 2018]).

↑ Who we are and what we do ( Memento of the original from February 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Müller Security Service Ulm GmbH (MSDU) @1@ 2