After two bankruptcies, CEO Olivier van den Bossche has big plans for the department store again. In 2024, Galeria will only have a handful of branches that are “not yet completely profitable”.
After completing the second insolvency within a good two years, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof now has big plans again. The new CEO Olivier van den Bossche shared the food newspaper announced that it had recruited new executives and that it intends to hire a total of 3,500 new employees by December. According to Bossche, permanent staff and temporary workers are being sought. He did not say how many would be hired by each group.
Galeria had previously laid off several thousand employees in both bankruptcy proceedings. Now it’s a matter of having “much more flexibility” in business before Christmas, which is the time when Galeria sells the most. Bossche said about the branches: “We come from 131 branches, now we are at 91.” In the remaining branches, the total area will be reduced by an average of 25 to 30 percent. In 2024, Galeria will only have a handful of branches that are “not yet completely profitable”. He did not want to comment on the possible departure from CFO Guido Mager.