Shortly before Christmas, a small spark of hope could have gone out for some employees of the insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof GmbH: buero.de Handel AG is no longer interested in taking over 47 branches.

Horst Gobrecht, trade union secretary for the trade department in southern Hesse, cannot say with certainty whether this cancellation can increase the concern of the employees at all.

“There were different hopes,” he says.

The employees, who feared for their comparatively well-paid jobs, naturally grasped at every straw.

In Hesse alone, 1,500 people are employed in a total of 14 department stores.

He himself gave little to buero.de from the start: "I never took the announcements at face value, I consider them a propaganda coup," says Gobrecht.

Inga Janovic

Editor in the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and responsible editor of the business magazine Metropol.

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As CEO of buero.de Handel AG, Markus Schön even named specific locations that he wanted to take over, including those in Bad Homburg, Sulzbach, Fulda, Gießen and Limburg.

With reference to confidentiality obligations, Schön does not provide any information as to whether he ever made a specific offer to the insolvency administrator in this sense.

The Galeria side has rather signaled that there is none, but there should also be offers from other interested parties.

Nothing more is known.

Schön wants to set up his own department store concept

The online retailer Schön has meanwhile announced that it will set up its own department store concept without taking over galerias.

After the recent headlines about even higher numbers of closures, it is to be feared that Galeria staff will apply in droves elsewhere - and without good people, the takeovers would be worthless.

This interpretation infuriates trade unionist Gobrecht.

"Now he's putting people first, but it's always been about a business model," he says.

The alleged investor never commented on socio-political issues, such as collectively agreed pay and other working conditions.

Galeria employees still have a lot to lose in this regard.

Even if, as announced by the company management, it becomes clear in mid-January which branches will remain and which will be closed: "Everyone will be affected," says Gobrecht.

The department store group pays according to retail tariffs, has a works constitution, and co-determination worked better than in many other companies, at least until the second insolvency.

That is why there are no adequate jobs for the vast majority elsewhere, although retailers everywhere are complaining about the lack of skilled workers.

Nevertheless, the employees are tired of fighting, the sick leave is high, and the ongoing downsizing is increasing the exhaustion.

"At Karstadt, they've been trying to save the company for 19 years, also by doing without," says Gobrecht.

In his opinion, however, this must be done by the management, i.e. the Austrian Signa Holding.

If she really has an interest in making well-functioning businesses out of the Galeria stores, she would have to invest a billion euros rather than just the announced 400 million euros.