The company Galeria is insolvent again. That’s bitter, but it’s true that the state is refusing further aid to the department store group.
Luxurious consumer temples in the middle of the cities, which attracted masses of customers: “Everything under one roof” was the motto of the large department stores for a long time. In the heyday, in the 1970s, there was room for four large chains in Germany: Karstadt, Kaufhof, Horten and Hertie – as well as many smaller department stores. Business prospered for a long time, but that is history. Things have been going downhill for decades, and rapidly.
Today there is only Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, the company has now filed for bankruptcy for the second time in two years and is to be restructured, again. How to proceed: open. As bitter as it is for the remaining loyal fans of the department store and above all for the many employees: the time of the department store is over – at least if you run it like Galeria. The houses are often unadorned, the offer is not very exclusive, the employees are annoyed by the crisis, the online trade is not expanded as it should be to keep up with Amazon and the other online retailers.
New money only plugs holes
It is also true that the federal government is not once again helping Galeria with state money. For one thing, Galeria never really made it out of the crisis, with new money apparently only plugging holes. Without a real concept for the future, there should be no support, even when it comes to many jobs and the future of many inner cities, which are often attached to department stores.
On the other hand, the owner of the company has to do it first. René Benko, the controversial and brash real estate entrepreneur from Austria, now has the obligation to provide fresh money for Galeria. In this way he could prove that he is not, as some claim, only interested in the lucrative inner-city real estate of the department store group, but really wants to advance the company.