As of: February 2, 2024, 11:42 a.m
By: Anatol Kraus
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It is currently uncertain how the vacant property on Pfeilergraben will be used in the future.
A decision should be made in the next few weeks and months.
© Anatol Kraus
After three bankruptcies, Galeria in Kempten has now closed.
Employees are worried about their severance pay – and are angry with René Benko.
Kempten – The branch on Pfeilergraben was profitable for decades, and even during the Corona crisis it was one of the top locations in Germany.
But after three bankruptcies in four years, it's finally over.
While company boss René Benko quickly put aside hundreds of millions, long-standing employees are worried about their severance pay.
The mood is extremely bad.
After the closure of Galeria in Kempten due to insolvency and Signa bankruptcy: employees fear about severance pay - anger at Benko
Who would have thought in 1971 that the Kempten department store Horten would end up like this?
On the opening day alone, around 45,000 visitors crowded through the sales rooms.
From 1994 it became Kaufhof and in 1998 Galeria Kaufhof.
In 2018, Karstadt and Kaufhof merged to form Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof.
The initiator at the time was the Austrian billionaire René Benko, who had already joined Karstadt with his Signa Holding in 2013.
Afterwards, Benko did not take any measures to preserve the building, said works council chairman Ewald Köpf shortly after the closure plans for the Kempten location became known (we reported).
However, as the owner of the property, Benko increased the rents so drastically that many branches were no longer profitable.
This was followed by three bankruptcies in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
Even during the first bankruptcy, the employees in Kempten gave up a lot of money as part of a collective restructuring agreement and were supposed to receive 60 to 80 hours of compensatory free time in return.
The latter was not adhered to in the second bankruptcy.
Hundreds of millions are lost
A total of 680 million in state aid flowed into the company, of which only 40 million has so far been repaid.
Insolvency proceedings are now underway for the parent company, Signa Holding.
Shortly before, the company had transferred over 300 million euros to Benko's private foundations.
Money that experts believe is lost to creditors.
The social plan for the second insolvency provided employees with a severance payment of two months' salary, up to a maximum of 7,500 euros.
Those who left by November still received these.
Those who stayed until the end - 13 of a total of 60 former employees in Kempten - were also promised a final bonus of a few hundred euros.
However, it currently looks as if none of this will be paid out anymore.
“That is at the discretion of the insolvency administrator,” says Manuela Karn from Verdi.
This is particularly bitter for the remaining employees, some of whom have worked there for 40 years.
Everyone was always proud of what they had done for the store, said a former employee.
You never thought it would come to this.
Now everyone is beyond angry and simply speechless.