The Swedish furniture giant Ikea would like to present itself more strongly in German city centers. The bankruptcy of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof probably comes at just the right time.
Berlin - Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, Germany's last large department store group, has found new owners after bankruptcy. They are expected to take over more than 70 of the current 92 Galeria branches. This is part of the signed investor agreement. How many locations actually remain and how many have to close depends on the further course of the rental negotiations and should be determined at the end of April.
After Galeria bankruptcy: Ikea wants to move into German city centers
There is probably already an interested party for the locations in often the best inner city locations of the department stores: the furniture retailer Ikea, which wants to open more so-called planning studios in city centers this year. There, customers can get advice on buying kitchens, for example. “Cologne and Stuttgart are expected to start this year,” said Ikea Germany boss Walter Kadnar to
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. The company is moving into shopping centers in both cities. When asked, Kadnar did not rule out the possibility that space in abandoned Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department stores could also be considered in the future.
Ikea planning studios already exist in Berlin, Munich and Ravensburg. The furniture retailer has part of its range available there so that customers can try it out and be inspired. Kadnar recently confirmed that it wanted to open more locations when it presented its balance sheet in the fall.
“We are proud of our 54 large furniture stores in Germany. But we have also been testing smaller formats for about three years,” Kadnar told the newspaper. “We have been so successful that we are now continuing in this direction. To be clear: We want such planning studios all over Germany.”
Ikea: “We want such planning studios all over Germany”
Ikea is Germany's largest furniture retailer and employs almost 19,500 people. In the last financial year 2022/2023 (until the end of August), Ikea Germany left the sales losses caused by the corona pandemic behind it. According to the company, revenue grew by 13.3 percent to a good 6.4 billion euros.
This means that the Swedes are of course in a much better position than the ailing department store chain, which now needs to be renovated. At the end of May, the creditors' meeting is scheduled to vote on the insolvency plan for Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. If the meeting of creditors accepts it, it must be reconfirmed by the insolvency court. By the end of July, insolvency administrator Stefan Denkhaus wants to hand over the company to the new owners - a consortium made up of the US investment company NRDC Equity Partners and the German entrepreneur Bernd Beetz's company BB Kapital SA.
“We are taking over Galeria because we believe that a traditional department store chain has a right to exist in the German market,” Jack Baker, founding partner of NRDC, told the German Press Agency on Friday. They are convinced that they have a good plan “to ensure the long-term success of the company”.
With material from dpa