The popular running shoe chain Runners Point closes all branches in Germany – including six in Hesse. Around 900 employees are affected.
- Popular Runners Point running shoe chain closes all branches in Germany.
- In Hesse close some branches in Frankfurt, Sulzbach, Darmstadt, Wiesbaden, Kassel, Fulda and Gießen.
- Around 900 jobs are affected in Germany.
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Frankfurt – The retail group Foot locker closes his running shoe chain Runners Point and takes the brand off the market. “All branches will be closed,” said a spokesman for the US company on Monday (May 18, 2020) at the request of the German Press Agency. This also applies to the branches in Austria and Switzerland.
Runners Point closes: branches in Frankfurt, Sulzbach, Darmstadt, Wiesbaden and Gießen affected
At the beginning of February there were a total of 81 branches in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, according to the annual report. Runners Point currently lists 73 branches in Germany on the Internet, especially in the old federal states and in Berlin. The chain’s headquarters are located in Recklinghausen (North Rhine-Westphalia) with 170 employees. In Hesse are the branches in the Hessen Center on Borsigallee in Frankfurt, in the Main-Taunus-Zentrum * in Sulzbach, in Darmstadt, Wiesbaden, kassel, Fulda and to water affected.
Lawyer Jürgen Graser, who represents two Runners Point works councils in Recklinghausen, estimates the number of employees affected in the branches at around 700. Together with the jobs at the headquarters in Recklinghausen, around 900 jobs are suffering as a result of the closure. “As far as the stores are concerned, we expect the activity to be discontinued as soon as possible,” he said.
Several branches in Hessen close: Foot Locker gives no precise reason for Runners Point-Aus
Before that WDR and the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung” reports. Foot locker gave no precise reasons for the plans, but spoke of a previous “assessment of our business activities and the competitive landscape in Germany over the past twelve months”.
Foot locker Runners Point acquired 100 percent in 2013. For the then more than 200 Branches in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland, the US retailer said it had paid 72 million euros at the time.
Runners Point branches in Germany closed – around 900 jobs cut
The employees were informed on Friday, the spokesman continued. “Now there is a dialogue with the social partners about a reconciliation of interests.” The branches should initially remain open until an agreement has been reached.
Recklinghausen’s Mayor Christoph Tesche (CDU) expressed his sympathy towards the employees of their Lose jobs. “Behind it are the fates of families. Such messages are always bitter, come in the Corona crisis but especially at the wrong time, ”said Tesche. After many inner cities almost seemed like ghost cities, as in Frankfurt, business started slowly after the corona break when the news of the US company Foot Locker came.
Foot Locker and Sidestep branches remain open – will all of Hesse soon have to go shopping in Frankfurt?
The Foot Locker and Sidestep brands will continue to be there for customers in the future. According to Graser, the branches of the Foot Locker subsidiary Sidestep will in future be managed from the Foot Locker Europe headquarters in the Netherlands. Clothing and shoes are sold in Sidestep stores. According to the Foot-Locker annual report, there are 77 Sidestep stores in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
In Hesse Foot Locker is still available to customers with ten branches, but five of them are located in Frankfurt alone. Sidestep has two branches in Frankfurt, one in Kassel and one in Darmstadt-Weiterstadt.
iwe / dpa
* fnp.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.
List of rubric lists: © Axel Heimken / dpa
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