Of the 172 department stores belonging to the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof group, fewer could now be closed than initially feared. According to the “Spiegel”, the traditional house on Frankfurt’s Zeil has good chances of surviving the corona crisis.
According to a media report, fewer locations will be removed from the hard-hit department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof than originally announced. As the “Spiegel” reported, according to administrator Frank Kebekus, another five to six branches could be retained – in addition to the six branches that are already considered saved. The German press agency learned that nothing was dry yet.
Originally, 62 of the 172 department stores in Germany were to be processed. “We are still talking to a few landlords and I hope that in the end we will have to close fewer than 50 locations,” Kebekus told Der Spiegel. According to the news magazine, the traditional Karstadt store on Frankfurt’s Zeil shopping mile should remain open. The owner of the building had therefore offered to reduce the rent by around one million euros per year and thus by 15 percent.
According to the Verdi union, this could save more than 400 jobs there alone. Nationwide, according to Verdi, almost 6,000 jobs are at risk due to the closings.
Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof had experienced a severe crisis due to the corona-related closure of all branches and had to seek rescue in a protective shield procedure in early April. In the meantime, self-administered bankruptcy proceedings have been opened. The Essen District Court appointed Kebekus as the administrator. Due to the pandemic and the subsequent economic downturn, the company expects to see sales of up to 1.4 billion euros by the end of 2022.
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