HBC Europe, the European arm of Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), is preparing to convert six Sportarena stores into Saks Off 5th by the end of 2018, while two others are to be integrated into Galeria Kaufhof department stores and four will close down, it was announced in an internal memo.
The Canada-based group bought Galeria Kaufhof from the Metro AG group in June 2015, with 16 stores trading as Kaufhof Sportarena in Germany. It had already announced last summer as part of a reorganization that it would be converting four of the Sportarena locations to Saks Off 5th, in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Heidelberg and Wiesbaden, and it added that the stores in Bonn and Freiburg would switch to HBC‘s price-driven concept. The group estimates that there is potential for about 40 Saks Off 5th stores in Germany. The four Sportarena stores that were initially picked for conversion should be ready to trade under this banner in the summer.
Two other Sportarena stores, in Düsseldorf Werhahn and Wuppertal, are to function as extended sports departments of Galeria Kaufhof. These two stores and their employees will thus be integrated into the department stores by February 2018.
HBC Europe is also continuing to study options for the Sportarena store in Würzburg, in the group or outside. On the other hand, the company has already decided to close down stores in Kassel, Osnabrück, Dresden and Aalen. HBC Europe adds that Sportarena will cease its activities at the end of January 2018, including all the remaining Sportarena stores and the head office in Frechen.
However, the memo says that there will be no redundancies as a direct result of the restructuring moves. The group is making every effort to ensure that all employees are offered other jobs at the company, be it at Galeria Kaufhof, Saks Off 5th or the HBC Europe Service Center. Employees may also opt for an amicable discontinuation of their contract.
