Schöps (company)
| Richard Schöps & Co | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1913, 1954 |
| Seat |
Vienna , Austria
|
| management | Jamal Abdul Hadi Al-Wazzan |
| Number of employees | 560 |
| Branch | Clothing retail |
Schöps is an Austrian textile retail chain founded in 1954 , whose tradition dates back to 1913. The heyday of the company, which at times employed more than 1,000 people, ended in the 1980s. The company was heavily indebted and was subsequently sold several times. Since 2008 the company, which still has around 95 branches and around 600 employees, has been owned by the Austrian-Iraqi entrepreneur Jamal Al Wazzan . Today it only appears under third-party brands such as Tom Tailor and s.Oliver .
history
The first Schöps clothing store was founded in 1913 by Richard Schöps. In 1954, his nephew Leopold Böhm re- founded the company. It expanded throughout Austria and was known in the 1970s for "wearable but affordable women's fashion" . The successful company also received the state award in 1979 and was allowed to use the federal coat of arms in business transactions. The company's successful course ended with the increase in competition from international low-price clothing chains, whereupon Schöps could not find a viable counter-strategy. In the late 1980s, the company was heavily indebted. In 1989, Böhm sold the company, which at the time had an annual turnover equivalent to 101.7 million euros, for 160 million euros to the German investor Thomas Matzen. He invested in the company , which was renamed Richard Schöps & Co Aktiengesellschaft from 1992 , among other things with the help of the English pension fund CIN VEN, which was also involved in Schöps, in the renewal of the branches. For example, two to four new branches were announced for 1999 and the investment of 4.2 million euros and a further million in the following years.
The turnover of Schöps in 1997 was the equivalent of around 91 million euros, resulting in a loss of 20.2 million schillings (1.47 million euros). Since sales in 1998 increased to 100 million euros (1.37 billion schillings), the company achieved a profit of 16.2 million schillings (1.18 million euros) this year. Schöps primarily relied on own brands, which made up around 85% of the range in 1999. The market share in the Austrian textile retail trade was 2.5% in 1998, which meant fifth place behind chains such as H & M and C & A , which each held first place with around 6.3% market share, as well as Vögele and Kleid Bauer . In mid-1999 the clothing chain had 96 branches. A growth to 100 by the turn of the year 2000 as well as 130 to 140 branches in the longer term were strived for, possibly through partial conversion to the franchise system. By 2002 the company should be debt free.
Further sales followed. In 2001 the company came into the possession of the Italian industrialist Piofrancesco Borghetti. In 2003 and 2004, the company made a loss of almost 4 million euros, but in 2005 it achieved a positive operating result with sales increased to 76 million euros. In 2006, however, sales fell back to around 70 million euros and at the end of 2006, Borghetti sold Schöps to the Luxembourg Private Holdings of Investments company (PHI). This in turn passed the majority of the company's stake on to the German investment company Arques Industries in spring 2007 . At that time, the company employed around 850 people in 122 branches, which Arques reduced to 95 branches and 560 employees. Like PHI, Arques Schöps also tried to get away from the “cheap image” and to reposition it. After three to five years, Arques wanted to sell the company on for a profit. But just one year later this project was canceled and Schöps was sold in August 2008 to the Austrian-Iraqi entrepreneur Jamal Al Wazzan "for a symbolic price" . Al Wazzan has been in the textile industry since 1982 and, as a franchisee in Austria, operates branches of the textile chains Street One and Tally Weijl . Accordingly, he would like to convert all Schöps locations for other textile chains. In this way, it should also be possible to maintain or even expand most jobs. Al Wazzan could, however, also envisage the continued operation or partial sale of Schöps, provided that a number of branches remained that could be run profitably. Because, according to him, there are also successful Schöps branches in rural areas, especially in Eastern Austria. After a downsizing, Schöps could one day expand into the cities again, if this is possible. In October 2008, Al Wazzan announced that there would be no more branches of the brand in mid-2009. The name Richard Schöps only remained for the company; the branches all operate under different names today.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b company profile on erstzu-wem.de, accessed on June 9, 2014.
- ↑ Company profile on Unternehmer24.at, accessed on June 9, 2014.
- ↑ a b c Leo Szemeliker: Schöps, a fashion chain with an expiration date. Der Standard , August 16, 2008 (accessed February 8, 2009)
- ↑ a b Robert Lechner: Schöps registers all 623 employees for termination. ( Memento of September 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Wirtschaftsblatt , August 28, 2008 (accessed on February 8, 2009)
- ↑ a b What became of ... Schöps? , diepresse.com, January 28, 2011, accessed June 9, 2014.
- ↑ wien.orf.at: New clothes for Schöps. ORF online, April 3, 2007 (accessed February 8, 2009)
- ↑ a b g.h .: Takeover: There won't be much left of Schöps. diepresse.com , August 15, 2008 (accessed February 8, 2009)
- ↑ wien.orf.at: Schöps founder Leopold Böhm dead. ORF online, April 4, 2007 (accessed on February 8, 2009)
- ↑ a b c Schöps: New collection in the owner segment. Wiener Zeitung , April 3, 2007 (accessed November 7, 2013)
- ↑ Company Profile for www.firmeninfo.at, June 9, 2014.
- ↑ a b Leo Szemeliker: Schöps opens further branches with a new look. Der Standard, February 12, 1999, p. 28
- ↑ Leo Szemeliker: Schöps returns to profitability. Der Standard, July 12, 1999, p. 16
- ↑ Jamal Al Wazzan: "In six to twelve months the Schöps brand will no longer exist" from October 9, 2008, accessed on March 7, 2009