Heinemann could foresee that Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof would be in such a bad shape one day. “The end of department stores has been discussed for over 30 years,” he says. “At the latest since the disappearance of Horten, Hertie and Kaufring, it has been clear that the life cycle of the department store has come to an end.”
Heinemann knows what he’s talking about. On November 1, 2010 he published a text entitled “The department store – a dinosaur with a future?” in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. The economist already saw the “department store” business model as endangered twelve years ago.
“Further losses are inevitable,” he wrote. Heinemann was obviously right. Today he no longer believes in the future of the department store concept. “Perhaps a few more years in the form of an ailment, before sales are finally down to zero,” says the economist.
He is alluding to Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. The group has recorded high losses in the past two years. In 2020/21, sales from the pure retail business were almost 1.85 billion euros, compared to 2.98 billion in the previous year.
According to the Federal Gazette in mid-October, the company management also made calculations for the 2021/22 financial year publish annual report with a “net loss for the year in the lower to middle three-digit million range”.