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Department store inventory left behind: a pile of plastic arms, legs, torsos and discount labels
Photo:
Roland Weihrauch / dpa
A heap of plastic arms, legs, upper parts of the body and discount signs: the house owner of a former Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof branch in Essen expressed his displeasure with the legacy of the department store group with an unusual campaign.
The Koerfer Group had mannequins and billboards left behind from the department store closed in October dumped by a container service in front of the Karstadt headquarters in Essen.
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Karstadt-Kaufhof simply left everything in the 30,000 square meter house, said Koerfer executive board member Michael Gluth of the dpa news agency.
The owner is left with a total of millions of euros because there have been structural changes that now have to be dismantled.
The behavior of the group is not legally objectionable, since Galeria-Karstadt-Kaufhof was in the insolvency proceedings.
Morally, according to Gluth, it is "reprehensible" given decades of business relationships.
Plans for future use
The action, about which the Funke media group and WDR reported, took place on Thursday.
The former Essen Kaufhof will be gutted and rebuilt, said Gluth.
There are already plans for future use.
A department store will definitely no longer come to the location.
"The days of department stores are over," said Gluth.
Galeria-Karstadt-Kaufhof has not yet commented on the campaign.
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bah / dpa