Schlecker was a German

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

company with headquarters in

Ehingen Ehingen (Donau) (; Swabian: ''Eegne'') is a town in the Alb-Donau district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, situated on the left bank of the Danube, approx. southwest of Ulm and southeast of Stuttgart. The city, like the entire district of ...

which once had a workforce of some 52,000. There were stores across Europe including Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Portugal, Poland, France, Spain and Italy. Schlecker announced the closure of half its shops across Germany with effect from 29 February 2012. Due to bankruptcy, the remaining stores were closed on 27 June of that year, with the exception of the 'XL' markets and the businesses of associated 'Ihr Platz' brand.

History

When Anton Schlecker joined the company in 1965, Schlecker was a butchery chain with 17 subsidiaries. He founded a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

, Schleckerland, in the same year. Between 1972 and 1976, another four department stores were opened in

Schwäbisch Gmünd Schwäbisch Gmünd (, until 1934: Gmünd; Swabian: ''Gmẽẽd'' or ''Gmend'') is a city in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. With a population of around 60,000, the city is the second largest in the Ostalb district a ...

, Geislingen,

Neu-Ulm Neu-Ulm ( Swabian: ''Nej-Ulm'') is the capital of the Neu-Ulm district and a town in Swabia, Bavaria. Neighbouring towns include Ulm, Senden, Pfaffenhofen an der Roth, Holzheim, Nersingen and Elchingen. The population is 58,978 (31 December 2019 ...

and

Göppingen Göppingen ( Swabian: ''Geppenge'' or ''Gebbenga'') is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the district Göppingen. Göppingen is home to the toy company Märklin, and it is the b ...

. With the abolition of

resale price maintenance Resale price maintenance (RPM) or, occasionally, retail price maintenance is the practice whereby a manufacturer and its distributors agree that the distributors will sell the manufacturer's product at certain prices (resale price maintenance), a ...

on cosmetics, healthcare and household products in 1974, Anton Schlecker established his first store for these items the following year. In 1987, the company's first foreign subsidiary was established in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. In 1991 the company acquired Superdrug in France and, shortly thereafter, established subsidiary companies in the Netherlands and Spain. In 1999, Schlecker entered the Italian market. The first markets in Poland and Portugal opened in 2004 and 2006, respectively.

Bankruptcy and dissolution

On 21 January 2011, it was announced that Thorben Rusch would become Schlecker's new

COO COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...

, with Sami Sagur taking the post of

CFO The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

. Schlecker filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

on 23 January 2012 although it was announced that business would continue during the bankruptcy process. 104 markets of the ''Ihr Platz'' subsidiary were taken over by Schlecker's competitor ''Rossmann''.

Literature

* Sarah Bormann: ''Angriff auf die Mitbestimmung. Unternehmensstrategien gegen Betriebsräte – der Fall Schlecker''. Edition Sigma, Berlin 2007, . * Michael Opoczynski: ''Die Blutsauger der Nation - Wie ein entfesselter Kapitalismus uns ruiniert''. Droemer, . * Rüdiger Liedtke: ''Wem gehört die Republik? Die Konzerne und ihre Verflechtungen in der globalisierten Wirtschaft 2007. Namen Zahlen Fakten''. Eichborn Verlags AG, Frankfurt a. M. 2006, , S. 375-377.

References

{{Authority control Companies based in Baden-Württemberg Retail companies established in 1975 Retail companies disestablished in 2012 1975 establishments in West Germany 2012 disestablishments in Germany