The German department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is closing five less branches than announced. A spokesperson for the company reported on Thursday that their landlords had made concessions.
This affects the sites in Bayreuth, Erlangen, Oldenburg, Rostock and Leipzig. This reduces the number of planned store closures from 52 to 47. 82 stores will continue to operate. As reported, thousands of jobs are affected. The department store group of the Tyrolean investor René Benko had filed for bankruptcy at the end of October. Exploding energy prices and falling consumption in Germany were cited as reasons. However, the works council also assumes that there are errors in the management.
According to him, “a lot of tears have been shed” because many colleagues have been with the company for a long time. “We are almost a bit connected as a family,” says a works council member. Part of the staff should be able to work for the Aachener fashion chain. The director Friedrich-Wilhelm Göbel expressed interest in several locations threatened with closure. The company wants to “make an offer to all employees in the affected locations to come and work for us. Without exception.”
Second attempt to pass again
It is already the second attempt to get the retail giant back on the road to success through a protective shield procedure and the accompanying haircut. A first attempt, which was started in 2020 during the first corona lockdown, only temporarily relieved the company. At that time, some 40 branches were closed, 4,000 jobs were cut and more than two billion euros in debt were canceled.
Whether the new insolvency plan is accepted will be decided on March 27 at the meeting of creditors.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
