About three more weeks and then the Kika and the Leiner in Graz will be closed. Although the future use of the two buildings is still open, solutions for the future of the approximately 150 employees have long been sought. One thing is certain: you can use the Styrian Insolvency Foundation.
According to AMS, since 2021, around 170 people have participated in this foundation, which allows affected employees to retrain. There are currently 29 people in training. The Kika/Leiner branches in Judenburg, Liezen, Leoben and Feldbach will already be closed in 2023. At that time, 60 employees (41 women, 19 men) joined the foundation, most of them from Feldbach and Judenburg. Only six of these are still in the foundation.
The employees of the Kika branch in Graz-Webling were informed about this possibility on Tuesday morning and it was the turn of the Leiner employees on Wednesday. According to AMS regional manager Karlheinz Snobe, individual discussions are already taking place. During their training, foundation participants receive unemployment benefits and a monthly allowance.
Many older workers are losing their jobs
According to trade unionist Norbert Schunko, the bankruptcy mainly affects older employees who have been working at Kika or Leiner for a long time. Furniture stores will be closed at the end of January and there has been a huge flow of customers in recent weeks, many looking for bargains. At the beginning of February, the employees will officially leave the once thriving company.
Trade as a whole is struggling. At the end of December, 5,282 people in this sector were registered as unemployed in Styria (an increase of 15 percent compared to the previous year), while at the same time there were 1,728 vacancies (a decrease of 15.7 percent). “Domestic trading companies are still looking for well-trained personnel,” says Snobe, who does not lose his optimism.
Furniture stores owned by the Graz company
What will happen to the two major furniture stores in the Styrian capital? They belong to the Graz Supernova group. The current Kika location will continue to be used for the furniture trade, “but nothing has been signed yet,” Supernova spokesperson Michael Slamanig emphasizes to the “Krone”. The future use of the Leiner House on Annenstrasse is “completely open”; Supernova boss Frank Albert spoke of a “multifunctional centre”.
The branches in Judenburg and Liezen, which closed in 2023, now belong to what was once the largest competitor XXXLutz, which is not yet using the buildings. The former location in Leoben serves as a warehouse for the online auction house Aurena in Feldbach, local entrepreneur Erwin Teller runs a multifunctional center, including a Hervis sales branch.
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.
