The well-known German department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, which belongs to the multi-billion dollar Signa holding company of Tyrolean real estate juggler René Benko, presented the long-awaited list to the supervisory board on Monday of which branches will be closed and which will be continued.
Of the 129 stores, 52 branches will be completely closed. This was also confirmed by the company on Monday afternoon, after a prior notification from the central works council. The closures are to take place in two waves on June 30, 2023 and January 31, 2024. More than 5,000 jobs could be lost. “It’s a pitch-black day” The Verdi union announced that it wanted to fight for every job. “This is a pitch-black day.” Galeria now needs new management, demanded Stefanie Nutzberger, who is responsible for retail at Verdi. Galeria is now “setting the course for a secure future”, the company management explained. 77 branches and around 11,000 jobs were retained. The department store has a future in Germany. For the loss of their job, the affected employees would receive a severance payment of twice the monthly gross salary, the general works council explained. “The population must be aware that there will only be an attractive city center if the regional retailers are used,” the committee appealed to consumers. A creditors’ meeting on March 27th will decide whether Galeria will continue. At the time, the court gave the go-ahead for the self-administration process after a restructuring plan had been submitted to the court in good time. Galeria Kaufhof has been plagued by crises for years, and the employees have repeatedly had to tremble for their jobs. Most recently, the official requirements in the Corona crisis had put a strain on business, the group resorted to state aid, then the branches suffered from consumer reluctance after the Russian attack on Ukraine. Two years ago, 40 branches closed. Home-made problems also closed the group create, which belongs to the billionaire Signa Holding of the investor René Benko, who had merged Karstadt and Kaufhof and has been in charge there since 2019. More than two years ago, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof had already closed a good 40 of the 172 branches at the time during the insolvency proceedings. At that time, around 5,000 employees had lost their jobs.
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