Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof will close five department stores less than announced at the beginning of the week. Thanks to further concessions by landlords, the department stores in Bayreuth, Erlangen, Oldenburg, Rostock and Leipzig were preserved, a company spokesman told the German Press Agency on Thursday. The number of planned store closures at Germany's last major department store group thus falls to 47. The number of amortized houses rises to 82.
There had also been encouraging signals for employees from other quarters. The managing director of the fashion chain Aachen, Friedrich-Wilhelm Göbel, told dpa that he was interested in several locations threatened with closure. There is currently no contractual arrangement with Galeria, but mutually signed contracts with landlords, said the manager. These therefore take effect as soon as Galeria receives a termination - which has not yet happened.
Göbel promised that they would "make all employees of the affected branches an offer to work for us. Without exception." On the number of stores that are to become Aachen branches, Göbel said: "I think there will be ten. It could also be 25." According to his statement, it is about branches throughout Germany. Aachener currently operates seven branches in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Schleswig-Holstein. Göbel was previously head of the fashion chain Sinn.
Galeria had announced on Monday to close 52 of the last 129 department stores. Thousands of jobs are also to be cut in the course of the ongoing insolvency proceedings.
Rescue in protective shield insolvency proceedings
At the end of October, the department store group had to seek rescue in a protective shield insolvency procedure. At the time, CEO Miguel Müllenbach cited exploding energy prices and the slump in consumption in Germany as the reason for the company's threatening situation. However, the central works council also blamed management errors for the crisis of the group.
According to the plans of the department store group, the remaining stores are to be comprehensively modernized over the next three years. In the future, the Group intends to focus its offerings primarily on clothing, beauty care and home accessories. In the design of their product range, the stores should also be given more independence. With a view to the planned package of measures, Galeria boss Miguel Müllenbach said: "The department store in Germany has a future." However, before the restart, the creditors' meeting on 27 March in Essen must give the green light. If it rejects the insolvency plan, the company is threatened with immediate closure.
It is already the second attempt to bring the retail giant back on the road to success through a protective shield procedure and the associated debt haircut. A first attempt, which was launched in 2020 during the first corona lockdown, had brought the company only temporary relief despite the closure of around 40 branches, the reduction of about 4000,<> jobs and the cancellation of more than two billion euros in debt.