The Karstadt and Kaufhof department stores dominated German city centers for decades. Then the city crisis began. Now the company names are disappearing completely.
Germany’s last large department store group has removed Karstadt and Kaufhof from its company name. With effect from August 1, the Essen District Court lifted the insolvency proceedings that began in January. This will enable the ailing company to make a fresh start.
From now on, the company will only be called Galeria; previously it was called Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. This company name was the result of the merger of the former rivals Kaufhof and Karstadt, which was initiated in 2018. Now both are disappearing from the company name.
Two new owners
At the end of May, the creditors had already approved the insolvency plan and cleared the way for the restructuring and rescue of the retail giant. The company also has new owners with effect from August 1st. The US investment company NRDC and a holding company owned by the entrepreneur Bernd Beetz now have the say at Galeria S.à rl & Co. KG, which is the new company name.
S.à rl is a French abbreviation that stands for the legal form “Société à responsabilité limitée”, i.e. limited liability company. Galeria’s parent company Naboo Holdings S.à rl is based in Luxembourg.
Half as many branches as in 2020
Galeria still has 92 branches in Germany, but this number is expected to fall to 83 by the beginning of September. Just four years ago, there were more than twice as many, namely 171. In the future, the company will have around 12,000 employees nationwide.
Galeria boss Olivier Van den Bossche is confident that his company has a good future ahead of it. He is counting on concentrating on its core competency as a department store; the company has separated from the Galeria travel agencies. The remaining branches are to be modernized “in order to offer an attractive shopping atmosphere and an ideal shopping experience,” as Van den Bossche puts it.
Source: Stern
