The department store is scheduled to close on June 30, 2023.
(Photo: dpa)
In one point, Galeria boss Miguel Müllenbach is probably right: the department store in Germany has a future. This is demonstrated every day by committed local entrepreneurs who put together an attractive range of products in the province with a lot of commitment and feeling for the wishes of their customers and who lure people into their houses with service and experience.
Galeria, or rather the predecessor companies Kaufhof and Karstadt, would have had decades to develop such a convincing concept. But what you see in the shops is a carelessly put together standard range, and the few employees can hardly provide advice anymore.
If the company now promises that everything will be better in the future, that doesn’t sound very credible. It promised that after the first bankruptcy – the result is known.
The concept that has now been announced is just as unconvincing: turning back centralization and giving more responsibility to the branches will not work. There is a lack of entrepreneurial thinking branch managers on site. The necessary cultural change will not be possible quickly enough to save the company.
The fact that there is now talk of adding more fashion to the range sounds unintentionally funny. Hardly any branch of trade is more affected by the slump in consumption.
>> Read here: These 52 Galeria branches are to be closed
It is no coincidence that Peek & Cloppenburg is now taking refuge in protective shield proceedings. At the same time, in hardly any other segment is the share of online trade as high as in fashion, with Germans already buying more than half of their clothing online.
And that Galeria does not dominate online trading, the company has sufficiently proven in recent years. The online share of sales at Galeria is just six percent, despite the investment in a new web shop. Online sales are now even 40 million euros lower than in the first insolvency proceedings.
That’s why the question must be allowed: Who would be missing something if Galeria no longer existed? Customers have already voted with their feet, the frequencies in the branches are falling dramatically. You don’t have to worry about the employees either, there is a desperate need for good staff in the industry.
For municipalities, a Galeria withdrawal also offers opportunities
That leaves the municipalities and property owners, who in this case are in the same boat. In many cases, it will indeed be difficult at first to find a new use for the department store property, and it will usually not be possible without conversion or demolition.
But here, too, the opportunities are likely to outweigh the risks in the medium term. After all, retail alone is no longer the magnet that lures people into the inner cities. In particular, the large concrete blocks in which Galeria resides, some of which have not been rebuilt since the 1960s, have a rather deterrent effect on many. New concepts are required. Unfortunately, Galeria does not have any on offer.
More: Galeria Closing List Raise Many Questions – Why Some Locations Can Still Hope