© EPA-EFE
The German department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, led by Belgian Olivier van den Bossche, will close 16 of its 92 stores, including three in Berlin. The group reported this in a press release on Saturday. Of the 12,800 employees in the company, 1,400 will be laid off.
According to the group, it has worked with social partners to “find a socially acceptable solution” for workers who lose their jobs. “We will do everything we can to lead our company to a prosperous future,” said CEO van den Bossche in the press release.
Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, the parent company of the Belgian Inno, filed for protection against its creditors for the third time in several years in January. Galeria is the largest department store chain in Germany, but has been in bad shape for some time.
At the beginning of April it was announced that a consortium of German-American investment funds, NRDC Equity Partners (based in New York) and BB Kapital, would take over the chain.
In recent years, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof stores have faced competition from online sales and consumers lost interest in the chain stores with a somewhat outdated appearance. The situation worsened due to the corona crisis in 2020 and rising inflation as a result of the war in Ukraine. In March 2023, the chain announced that it would close 52 stores.
The Belgian subsidiary Inno is not affected by the restructuring. The Belgian chain recently announced that it is healthy and follows a completely independent course from Galeria.
