Just six months after changing ownership, Germany's second-biggest shoe retailer Reno filed for bankruptcy amid a crisis in the footwear sector that has sent many businesses in the country insolvent in recent months.
The parent company of the retailer Reno Schuhcentrum and the subsidiary Reno Schuh filed for insolvency proceedings with the District Court of Hameln, with representative Immo Hamer appointed as interim insolvency administrator. According to media reports, the bankruptcy will only affect German branches, and not subsidiaries located in Austria and Switzerland. Reno, Germany's second largest shoe retailer after Deichmann, operates more than 300 stores across Europe, 180 of them in the country, and employs about 1100 people.
Reno changed hands six months ago. At the end of September 2022, the retail group HR Group sold Reno Schuhcentrum along with its subsidiaries to cm.sports GmbH and its collaboration partner GA Europe. However, attempts by the new owner to make the company profitable again were unsuccessful, as sales fell short of expectations.
Reno is one of the latest to be hit by the crisis in the German footwear sector, which was the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine, which led to a sharp increase in costs. For example, the Hamburg-based shoe retailer Görtz filed for bankruptcy last September, while the Ara group filed for bankruptcy in December 2022 with its subsidiaries Klauser and Salamander.
According to Rolf Pangels, CEO of the trade association Textile Shoes Leather Goods (BTE), one in ten shoe stores closed in Germany last year, resulting in a total of 1 shoe stores closing. There are currently around 500 shoe stores in Germany, down 10% from the previous year. Online sales also declined by 000% in 13.
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