02.10.2007
Essen, 2 October 2007. Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH will in future work together with Hugendubel, one of the largest booksellers in Germany, and Weltbild, the best-known brand in the German book market. Both booksellers, which belong to the financial holding DBH Buch Handels GmbH & Co. KG, Munich, are to establish the first Karstadt book sections before Christmas.
Hugendubel and Weltbild are to take over Karstadt's book range from April 2008 and implement their successful and customer-oriented book retail concept in 52 department stores. Both parties have agreed not to disclose details of the purchase price. The agreement is subject to the approval of the committees and the Monopolies Commission.
Karstadt has already cancelled the agreement concluded in May 2007 with Thalia Holding GmbH, a subsidiary of the Douglas Group, Hagen, for a strategic book retailing partnership by mutual agreement.
In future, Karstadt's book range will be managed by Hugendubel and Weltbild, book traders specialising in this field, as one of its complementary ranges. The partners expect great benefits from the collaboration.
Peter Wolf, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH and Member of the Management Board of Arcandor AG states that "With the clearly positioned Hugendubel and Weltbild formats, DBH offers customised concepts for our department stores. We have obtained the best collaboration partners in book trading and will continue the trading-up strategy of our department stores."
DBH Buch Handels GmbH & Co. KG sees the concluded agreement as an opportunity to attract additional book customers on spacious sales areas in first-class city centre locations. DBH advisers Carel Halff and Dr. Maximilian Hugendubel stress that "It is obvious that the redesigned and top-quality Karstadt department stores are the surprise success in the German retail trade. We are looking forward to a long-term cooperation with employees in the Karstadt book department."
Hugendubel and Weltbild are to manage Karstadt's book business in formats specifically tailored to individual locations. "As the most famous book brand in Germany, Weltbild stands for a successful and attractive range from the great number of books available, which we will present in a large number of Karstadt stores," underlines Carel Halff.
Dr. Maximilian Hugendubel adds: "The Hugendubel brand represents the whole spectrum of available books. Hugendubel provides high-quality, expert service, and book-selling advice, thus perfectly rounding off the concept of the Karstadt premium stores."
The book-selling formats range from the sophisticated, well-equipped specialist retail format of the Hugendubel brand covering up to 700 square metres in the Karstadt premium stores such as the KaDeWe in Berlin to concentrated book-selling surfaces of 200 to 400 square metres under the "Weltbild" name in most Karstadt department stores. The book-selling areas will be located on the ground floor of the department stores and will also be part of the newly designed entertainment floors in the Karstadt department stores.
"In the next few months, we will enter into further strategic partnerships in order to successfully implement our trading-up strategy in other ranges," explained Karstadt CEO Peter Wolf.
Press contact:
Arcandor AG
Corporate communication
Jörg Howe
Phone: +49 (0)201 727 -2 53 8
joerg.howe@arcandor.com
Karstadt:
Rudolph Karstadt opened his first shop in Wismar on 14 May 1881. 125 years after its founding, Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arcandor AG, is one of Europe's leading department store companies. Between 2.5 and three million customers visit the 90 department stores and 32 sports goods stores every day. The CEO is Peter Wolf, a member of the Management Board of Arcandor AG (Essen).
DBH:
465 book stores of the brands Buch Habel, Hugendubel, Weiland, Jokers, Weltbild plus and Wohlthat'sche Buchhandlung are united under the umbrella of the financial holding DBH Buch Handels GmbH & Co. KG, Munich. In 2006 some 3,500 employees generated a turnover of 675 million euros. DBH is a 50/50 joint venture of Verlagsgruppe Weltbild GmbH and the Hugendubel family.