15 Facts About Karstadt

Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH was a German department store chain whose headquarters were in Essen.

On 14 August 2014 it was announced that Karstadt had been completely taken over by Signa Holding of the Austrian investor Rene Benko, which already owned the majority of the sports shops and premium stores.

On 14 May 1881 Rudolph Karstadt opened his first store in Wismar under the name “Tuch-, Manufactur- und Confectionsgeschaft Karstadt”.

In 1900 Rudolph Karstadt took over 13 stores from his highly indebted brother Ernst Karstadt in Anklam, Domitz, Friedland, Greifswald, Gustrow, Hamburg, Ludwigslust, Neubrandenburg, Schwerin, Stavenhagen, Wandsbek and Waren .

Karstadt moved increasingly into the in-house production of clothing, opening a large material store in Berlin in 1911 and a clothing factory in the following year.

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In 1920 Karstadt took over the company Althoff from Theodor Althoff of Dulmen and transformed the entire group into a limited company.

In 1932 Rudolph Karstadt stepped down from the management of the company following the dramatic decline in sales which accompanied the global economic crisis.

Karstadt AG had to dismiss 830 Jewish employees, including four board members and 47 branch managers.

In 1977 Karstadt acquired a majority share in Neckermann Versand AG and, with an annual turnover of 10.

Karstadt was facing both the difficulties being faced by the entire retail sector and its own home-made problems.

Karstadt was continuing to ignore market trends by offering a wide assortment of goods while critics complained that the interiors were outdated and the goods on offer not customer-orientated.

Karstadt contributed goods and properties worth around 50 million euros to the company and Rewe the same amount of new capital.

In 2006, in order to mark its 125th anniversary, Karstadt published a celebratory book entitled, which presented the history of the company.

In October 2007 the Handelsblatt reported that Karstadt was considering taking over the Kaufhof department stores from Metro AG, a deal which would have made the company Europe's second-largest department store group after Spain's El Corte Ingles.

In November 2012 Karstadt announced the relaunch of its online stores in cooperation with Demandware and SinnerSchrader.