Department store chain

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The term department store chain is used to denote commercial companies under private law that operate department stores in branches, as a rule, such a company is only referred to as a "chain" if there are 20 or more branches in Germany, as a certain market presence can be spoken of from this number of branches. There are also differences between the hypermarkets and the classic department stores in the cities, but what they have in common is a certain range of products that distinguishes them from the specialists, such as: C&A or P&C as pure fashion chain chains .

Department store chains in Germany (current)

  • Karstadt - Karstadt is Germany's largest chain of department stores, with almost 90 branches throughout Germany, with the exception of one (parent company in Wismar), all branches are over 8,000 m² in size. Some traditional houses are run under the names "KaDeWe", "Alsterhaus", "Wertheim" or "Hertie". In 2007 Karstadt will introduce a luxury brand, but the brands "Hertie" and "Wertheim" will be dropped, as these branches will be merged into the new luxury brand.
  • Kaufhof - Germany's number 2 operates 115 branches as GALERIA Kaufhof, Kaufhof, as well as: L-Store and Carsch-Haus .
  • Woolworth - the last department store chain in the low-price sector. The German Woolworth has meanwhile been separated from its former American parent company of the same name and operates over 300 branches, some of which it has taken over from its former competitors.

Hypermarket chains in Germany (current)

The hypermarkets have a significantly larger selection of food and drug stores compared to the department store chains.

Former department store chains in Germany (selection)

  • Bilka - Hertie low-price chain, partly also known as “Bilka-Textil” and Preisland-SB
  • DeFaKa - (German family department store) was taken over by Horten AG in the 1950s
  • Gebrüder Barasch former department store chain
  • Hertie - was taken over by Karstadt AG in 1993. 73 former Karstadt branches with less than 8,000 m² of sales area, which were spun off from Karstadt Warenhaus AG as "Karstadt Kompakt" in 2004 and later sold, were continued under the traditional name " Hertie GmbH " from March 2007 . After bankruptcy in 2009, all branches and the corporate headquarters were closed.
  • Horten - developed the "GALERIA" concept in 1988, was taken over by Kaufhof AG in 1994
  • Kaufhalle - Kaufhof AG's low-price chain , was sold to Oviesse in 2000 , some of the branches were also called "Kaufcenter" and "M. multistore ”.
  • Kaufring - operated 35 department stores, however none under its own name and with several sales brands, largest sub-chain: “J.Gg. Rupprecht ”with 10 branches
  • Merkur - was taken over by Horten AG in the early 1970s
  • Strauss Innovation - After three insolvency proceedings, the final end of the German department store chain Strauss Innovation was sealed: In March 2017, exactly 115 years of company history came to an end. Strauss was an operator of rather small-area department stores (often only one sales floor). The range was not as broad as that of the big competitors, but included more than just clothing, even if this was the main part of the business.

Former hypermarket chains in Germany (selection)

Examples of international (hypermarket) department store chains

  • De Bijenkorf , department stores, Netherlands
  • Carrefour , hypermarkets, originated in France, second largest retailer after Wal Mart, international activities
  • Auchan , hypermarkets and supermarkets, originating in France, international activities in 11 countries
  • Galeria Centrum ( short : GC), department stores, Poland (despite the "GALERIA" no connection with Kaufhof AG)
  • Galeria Inno, department stores, Belgium (subsidiary of Kaufhof AG )
  • Hema , department stores, origin Netherlands, also operates branches in Belgium and North Rhine-Westphalia, specialty: at HEMA (almost) all products are called "HEMA" (> 99%)
  • Tesco , hypermarkets, origin Great Britain, international activities
  • Vroom & Dreesmann ( short : V&D), department stores, Netherlands
  • Wal Mart , hypermarkets called Supercentres , originated in the USA, the world's largest retailer, international activities, the German Wal Mart (85 stores) was sold to the largest German competitor, Metro, after several years of losses.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Strauss Innovation Online Shop. Retrieved November 9, 2018 (German).