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Department store giant disappears from many German cities - travel agencies affected?

2020-05-16T12:08:14.209Z


It would be a cut in the shopping habits of many Germans: The traditional department stores of Karstadt Kaufhof are in danger of being felled. Two branches of the department store giant are apparently particularly affected.


It would be a cut in the shopping habits of many Germans: The traditional department stores of Karstadt Kaufhof are in danger of being felled. Two branches of the department store giant are apparently particularly affected.

  • The department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof may have to close up to 80 of its 175 branches
  • A good 5000 jobs are in danger
  • Above all, it should hit the Karstadt Sport branches and travel agencies

Update of May 16, 1:55 p.m .:   According to a report, the radical cuts at the  department store giant Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof also affect the Karstadt sport branches and the travel agencies of the group. As the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger reports, citing corporate circles, around  20 of Karstadt-Sport's 30 branches are on the verge of being affected, affecting around a thousand employees. At the newly founded subsidiary Atrys, which operates the travel agencies of Galeria,  100 of the 130 travel agencies are to close .

In addition, according to the report, a three-digit number of jobs will be lost in the Galeria headquarters in Essen alone , where 1,600 people currently work.

Karstadt Kaufhof in crisis: department store giant is disappearing from many German cities

First report from May 15th:

Berlin / Essen - At the department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof , up to 80 of the 175 branches are threatened with closure . This emerges from a first restructuring concept that was presented to the General Works Council and other bodies on Friday. However, the number of branches threatened could be reduced if the landlords and other parties were willing to make concessions .

Karstadt orders layoffs of 5000 workers due to Corona crisis

The Wirtschaftswoche and Spiegel  reported about it first. According to information Wirtschaftswoche expect insiders to the reduction of around 5,000 full-time jobs . "This time it has to be more than cosmetics," the paper quotes internal circles. A spokesman for the department store group emphasized that the company does not want to comment on speculation .

However, the retail giant had already prepared employees at the beginning of the week for site closures and further job cuts as part of the protective shield procedure initiated in early April . In a letter to the employees , the company management reported on Monday that the court-appointed administrator Frank Kebekus and the general representative Arndt Geiwitz had made it clear that, in view of the Corona crisis, “unfortunately, location closures and, accordingly, job cuts must also occur”. At that time, the company did not disclose the number of branches threatened or the jobs at risk.

Corona crisis cost Karstadt half a billion sales by mid-May

While politicians are trying to prevent closings like this with various measures and aid packages, such as short-time work *, the group management emphasized in its two-page letter that Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof had lost more than half a billion euros in sales during the period of complete closings * . Due to the continued reluctance to buy , the loss in sales will probably increase to as much as one billion euros. That is why further restructuring measures are necessary to ensure that the company is sustainably healthy.

The works council and the Verdi union are facing violent headwinds from the works council . "The measures proposed in the draft of the restructuring plan are hard to beat in terms of cruelty and a general attack on all employees ", says a press release from the general works council. Verdi board member Stefanie Benefberger accused the group of planning a “clear cut at the expense of employees”. "It appears that management and the owner are misusing the corona crisis to implement their original plans for closings and layoffs," said the unionist.

On Twitter, users' first reactions were pity for the employees, who now have to fear for their jobs. Overall, however, the view intensified that the company , which had been struggling for years , urgently needed to find a contemporary orientation . One of the users' assessments: "But if the question is not answered soon, what does Karstadt / Kaufhof stand for and why do you need Karstadt / Kaufhof , the classic department store will go under (perhaps with a few exceptions)."

I'm sorry for everyone who loses their job.
But if the question is not answered soon, what does Karstadt / Kaufhof stand for and why do you need Karstadt / Kaufhof, the classic department store (perhaps with a few exceptions) will go under.

- Stephan Weber (@ stephan25788) May 15, 2020

Video: Forecasting has never been so difficult for companies as in the Corona crisis

dpa / fn / sob

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-05-16

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