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Galeria branch in Frankfurt am Main: General conditions "unacceptable"
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Boris Roessler / dpa
The online retailer buero.de has withdrawn its offer to buy almost 50 branches of the ailing department store group Galeria Kaufhof Karstadt.
"We have indeed withdrawn our offer for the 47 branches," said buero.de boss Markus Schön on Thursday evening of the dpa.
"From our point of view, the reports about further intentions to close were fatal," ntv.de had previously quoted Schön from a message.
This has led to framework conditions that are not acceptable.
The Lebensmittelzeitung reported on Monday, citing the works council, that Galeria could close up to 90 branches.
Originally it was said that the 131 department stores had to be "reduced by at least a third".
This means that more than 40 department stores are available.
Buero.de apparently feared that qualified staff would emigrate due to the possibly more far-reaching plans, which could not be compensated for.
"We have always said that the employees are the greatest treasure of the company for us," quotes ntv.de Schön.
Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof announced on Wednesday that it had received an initial takeover bid for a number of branches.
This still exists, said the spokesman for the retail giant on Thursday evening of the dpa.
Before Christmas, the company is expecting further offers from several other interested parties.
For reasons of confidentiality, the spokesman did not want to comment on the names of the interested parties and the question of which houses the potential investors were interested in.
The last large German department store group had again sought rescue in a protective shield procedure at the end of October.
According to the Galeria spokesman, it has not yet been decided how many and which branches are to be closed.
The company is currently in talks with the landlords.
In addition to the rent itself, there are also other questions such as a possible reduction in the rental area, energy-related renovations or modernization and construction measures.
Whether a location can be retained will also depend heavily on these talks.
"We assume that there will be clarity in the course of January next year," said the spokesman.
sol/dpa
