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Insolvency proceedings were opened at the district court of Hameln against both the parent company Reno Schuhcentrum GmbH and the subsidiary Reno Schuh GmbH, as the court confirmed on Wednesday. The submitted insolvency application therefore only affects the German branches, not the sister companies in Austria and Switzerland. Reno has around 30 branches in Austria.
1,000 employees affected
The Austrian company is owned by the German Reno Schuhcentrum GmbH. According to the company, Reno currently operates around 180 branches in Germany and employs a total of around 1,000 people. The company itself confirmed the bankruptcy through a media agency. Valtier’s Immo Hamer was appointed provisional insolvency administrator. The “Wirtschaftswoche” had previously reported.
The ailing shoe retail chain only got a new owner six months ago. At the end of September, the HR Group sold the shoe retailer to cm.sports GmbH in cooperation with GA Europe.
Even before the takeover by a new shareholder in autumn 2022, insolvency could not be ruled out, according to a statement. The company is currently in coordination with the provisional insolvency administrator in order to enable a new start from the insolvency, said the Reno managing director responsible for finance, Dieter Metz.
Not an isolated case
Attempts to bring the company back into the profit zone, for example through cost savings, were not sufficiently successful. “We actually planned to start with a slightly smaller team, a good base of branches and a new range,” said Metz. In recent months, however, sales have fallen short of expectations.
Reno is not an isolated case. Large parts of the shoe trade are in crisis due to the consequences of the corona pandemic and the price explosion triggered by the Ukraine war. More than every tenth shoe shop closed its doors for good last year, reported Rolf Pangels, general manager of the German Trade Association Textile Shoes, Leather Goods (BTE). Overall, according to calculations by the association, the number of shoe shops in Germany fell by 1,500 or 13 percent to around 10,000 within a year.
Well-known names are also struggling. The Hamburg shoe retailer Görtz had to seek rescue in a protective shield insolvency procedure last September. The company, which at that time still had 160 branches in Germany and Austria, justified the step with the effects of the Ukraine war, high inflation and rising energy prices, which would have led to “enormous reluctance to buy” in the branches and in the online business.
In the meantime, a new investor has been found who is supposed to secure the future of Görtz. However, the number of branches is likely to be halved as part of the restructuring measures.
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