Galeria Kaufhof GmbH was a German department store chain, headquartered in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. It was a member of the

International Association of Department Stores The International Association of Department Stores (IADS) is a retail trade association founded in 1928 by a group of department stores with the goal of introducing modern management methods derived from the scientific management movement to the ...

from 1930 to 2010, with various CEOs acting as presidents of the Association over time. Until 30 September 2015, the company was a subsidiary of

Metro AG Metro AG is a German multinational company based in Düsseldorf which operates business membership only cash and carry stores primarily under the Metro brand. Until 2020 it was also active in general retail business through Real division, wh ...

, when the company announced that it had been acquired by

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

. In September 2018 they announced plans to merge with their largest competitor

Karstadt Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH was a German department store chain whose headquarters were in Essen. Until 30 September 2010 the company was a subsidiary of Arcandor AG (which was known until 30 June 2007 as KarstadtQuelle AG) and was responsible wi ...

. In June 2019 all the shares of Galeria Kaufhof were bought by the Austrian company

Signa Holding Signa Holding GmbH (stylized as SIGNA) is Austria’s largest privately owned real estate company. Signa was founded in 2000 by the Tyrolean entrepreneur René Benko. Over the years, it has become a pan-European real estate group with more than ...

, who been the partner in the former merger. On March 25, 2019

& Galeria Kaufhof launched their merged company,

Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof GmbH, based in Essen, Germany, is the second largest department store group in Europe, with 131 locations and 18,000 employees. The company was formed in 2018 with the merger of two of Germany's most historic department sto ...

, based in Essen, with a new logo and a new website ''galeria.de''.

Business portfolio

*Galeria Kaufhof - 97 branches *DINEA Gastronomie GmbH - 58 restaurants *

Galeria Inno INNO is a department store chain that operates 16 stores in Belgium. It was founded in 1897 in Brussels as ''A l'Innovation''. Since 2001, the chain has been owned by the Galeria Kaufhof group, which was subsequently acquired by Hudson's Bay Co ...

- 16 stores in BelgiumGaleria Inno - History
(in French)

References

External links

* * Retail companies established in 1879 Companies based in Cologne Retail companies of Germany Department stores of Germany 1879 establishments in Germany {{Retail-company-stub