Woolworth Deutschland

Deutsche Woolworth GmbH & Company OHG

Woolworth store in Wuppertal

Type| GmbH
Founded| 1927
Headquarters| Unna, North Rhine-Westphalia
Parent| Tengelmann Group
Website| woolworth.de

Deutsche Woolworth GmbH & Company OHG (commonly known as Woolworth Deutschland or Woolworth GmbH) is a chain of department stores in Germany and Austria. It was a former subsidiary of the American F. W. Woolworth Company.

It was not part of the closure scheme that affected the British Woolworths Group stores, nor is it related to the Australian-based Woolworths Group retail group.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Insolvency
* 3 Current Situation
* 4 External links
* 5 References

## History[edit]

F. W. Woolworth Co. GmbH was founded in 1927 as a subsidiary of the American company F. W. Woolworth Company. When still part of the parent company, corporate documents refer to the division as Retail Company of Germany, Inc.. The German subsidiary separated from its American parent company in 1998, through a management buyout. In October 2007, the British investment and consulting company Argyll Partners purchased the company.

The first store opened in Bremen. As at 2003 the chain had 340 outlets ranging from 400 to 4000 square metres in size with over 16,000 employees and sales of approximately €1 billion.

## Insolvency[edit]

Although its workforce had been trimmed to 11,000, on 14 April 2009, Woolworth GmbH board of directors voted to declare insolvency, as the chain was squeezed between discounters and more specialist retailers.[1] More than half of the 311 outlets were expected to close within a few months.[2]

## Current Situation[edit]

The Tengelmann Group acquired 162 of the chain's stores in 2010. By the end of 2011, the number of stores in Germany had risen back to over 200. The new Woolworth GmbH has its headquarters in Unna, similar to chains such as KiK (founded in 1994), and TEDi, (founded in 2004). In February 2016 it opened its 300th store, and still plans to get back to 500 stores, although later than its initially stated target of 2015. Tengelmann has acquired the brand rights for a European expansion (excluding the UK), but as of 2016 has not yet opened a store outside Germany.

## External links[edit]

* Deutsche Woolworth

## References[edit]

1. ^ [1] Spiegel online (14 April 2009)
2. ^ [2] Spiegel online (19 June 2009)

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F. W. Woolworth Company—Foot Locker

Company|

* F. W. Woolworth Company
* Champs Sports
* Eastbay
* Foot Locker
* Kinney Shoes
* Woolco
* Claire's
* Afterthoughts
* Other divisions and namesakes

Buildings|

* List of Woolworth buildings
* Woolworth Building
* Lexington Store
* St. Louis Office
* Shadow Lawn
* Renton Store
* Watertown Store
* Wilmington Store
* Winfield Hall
* Winfield House

Culture|

* "Love at the Five and Dime"
* Seafoam salad
* Woolworth v. Contemporary Arts

Events|

* Foot Locker Cross Country

Civil rights|

* Greensboro sit-ins
* Ezell Blair Jr.
* Franklin McCain
* Joseph McNeil
* David Richmond
* International Civil Rights Center and Museum
* February One
* Clarence Harris
* Lexington Woolworths
* Nashville sit-ins

Family|

* Frank Winfield Woolworth
* Barbara Hutton
* Poor Little Rich Girl
* Lance Reventlow
* Seymour H. Knox I

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