German department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof can go ahead with its rescue plan, now that the court has agreed to ending insolvency proceedings.
Focus on fashion
On 1 June, the Essen district court will lift the insolvency proceedings at Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche reports. That means the department store chain can continue its rescue plan, and close 41 of its 129 stores. Creditors previously agreed to drop the vast majority of their outstanding claims.
Under its new CEO, Belgian Olivier van den Bossche, the retailer plans to change course, with a stronger focus on fashion and less on other non-food categories such as toys or stationery. Its own-brand offering will be optimised. Branches will be given greater autonomy to adapt the offer locally and all stores will be modernised over the next three years. Galeria’s owner, Austrian real estate group Signa, is allocating a budget of 200 million euros for this.
Galeria is the parent company of Belgian department store chain Inno, which is running an independent course and is not affected by the problems on the German market. It even recently confirmed its first net profit in years.
