This was decided in the course of the recently lifted insolvency proceedings. Two locations in Berlin are affected, as well as others in Essen, Wesel, Augsburg, Regensburg, Trier, Leonberg and Chemnitz. Around 800 of the 12,800 employees will lose their jobs as a result. Some of the branches – such as Essen and Wesel – had already closed in the penultimate week of August. Of the original 92 department stores, 83 will remain open. Gift and customer cards are still valid and can be used and redeemed in any branch and online, as the company announced on its website. Customers can therefore return or complain about items purchased in one of the closed stores in any other branch. It is possible to have new return labels generated online.
New owners after insolvency proceedings
Since August 1, the German department store group, which has been through a serious crisis including insolvency proceedings and was previously part of the Signa conglomerate of the Tyrolean investor Rene Benko, has had new owners. The US investment company NRDC and a holding company of the entrepreneur Bernd Beetz took over the ailing department store group, which now operates under the name Galeria S.à rl & Co. KG.
Retail expert Carsten Kortum is skeptical about the new start: “I don’t see it as a major breakthrough. So far, little is known or visible about what the new owners are planning. A lot of money would have to be put into the company, but that is apparently not planned,” said the professor at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University in Heilbronn. In his view, Galeria needs a new, younger business model. “I’m not sure whether that will happen. It would have a negative impact on consumers.”