Early in the AM of today, the smoke has cleared on the closing of various Karstadt stores in Germany. Focus carried a great update on the story.
For those unfamiliar with the brand Karstadt/Kaufhof/Galleria....they are the Macy's of Germany. Towns that had a Kaufhof or Karstadt....were the place where big pockets people shopped. For probably twenty years, there's been this downward trend, with malls taking customers away from the traditional stores.
So the future?
62 of 172 stores....to be closed. Roughly one-quarter of the 28,000 employees to be let go.
In some cities, it's a big deal. Bremen for example, has 700-plus employees going out the door. Osnabruck has 700-plus employees going away. Witten has 700-plus employees going away.
The sad thing about this timing....with the recession in play for the next year or two over Covid-19....there's simply no store-front jobs which will consume the unemployed here.
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