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Charles Vögele announces the bankruptcy: "I am really sorry for the operation"
LINZ / KALSDORF. Visit to branch: customers and employees hope the continuation will succeed
16 of the 102 branches of Charles Vögele are located in Upper Austria. The staff hopes "that it continues in one way or another". Image: Weihbold
"I do not worry at all, it goes on and on, so I'm pretty optimistic," says saleswoman Charles-Vögele and continues to serve customers.
entertained Tuesday with the staff of the Charles Vögele branch in Linz-Wegscheid, could hardly believe that the day for the 700 or so Austrian employees in the 102 branches started with a bad message: The fashion chain based in Kalsdorf in Graz is insolvent
Vögele has filed a motion for a reorganization proceeding without self-management. The company was no longer able to pay the wages owed in July and the deferred paid vacations for the workforce.
Creditors will receive a 20% quota over the next two years. The first creditors meeting will be held on August 13th. "Compared to the destruction of the business and the handing over of branches to individual customers, as it is always said, the committed restructuring process is the best chance to pursue the business," said Thomas Krenn. , CEO of Charles Vögele Austria. According to Krenn, the sales negotiations are "very advanced".
48.5 million euros in liabilities
Negotiations are also continuing on sister companies in Slovenia (11 branches) and Hungary (26 branches), also managed in Kalsdorf. According to the Creditreform creditors protection badociation, the badets of the Austrian company amount to 28.4 million euros. The liabilities should rise to 48.5 million
Charles Vögele Holding was founded in 1955. After the IPO in 1999, the fashion chain was one of the largest retailers of clothes in Europe. In Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, up to 760 stores were pledged.
In 2016, an Italian group of fashion group OVS bought Charles Vögele. In the country of origin of the chain, a change of concept has been attempted: away from trousers and shirts for a more conservative audience of over 40, for fashion to a much younger clientele . The concept did not work in Switzerland. As reported, the 140 branches with 1400 employees had to lock themselves there.
Austrian activity remained stable until 2016, with sales of 121 million euros. A year later, the break-in followed. The product returned to 11.5 million euros, a loss was made.
After the bankruptcy of the Swiss mother, 30 institutions have been closed in Austria since the beginning of the year. 13 branches have been converted into the "OVC" brand. In addition, there was a feverish search for an investor for the branches. But companies like Fussl, Hofer or Spar should, as stated, only be interested in individual locations. In a next step, Vögele employees across Austria need to be informed of the work meetings about the procedure, said Barbara Teiber, president of the union of private employees. [19659009] "There was always something out there"
The few customers looking for bargains at the Wegscheider branch on Tuesday, regret the chain's threat: "I would be very sorry for the operation ", said a customer with trousers and delivered. "The range has changed many times and there has always been one for customers of all sizes."
Delays for textile retailers become even more difficult
research. The company expects that every third piece of clothing will be delivered by delivery by 2020.
According to the latest available market data, Austrians already buy 27% of their clothing online. In 2010, according to Wolfgang Richter of RegioData, this share was only six percent. "It does not matter if the goods are picked up at a branch afterwards." The purchase process takes place online. "Richter also claims that true online retailers, such as Zalando, would significantly reduce the number of online merchants. stationary merchants with online offers could not participate equally in gaining market share of online commerce.
The top 10 operators hold, as in the previous year, a share about 50%, according to RegioData.In this area, however, there are changes: more conservative brands like Gerry Weber, Bonita, Cecil or Adler would lose sales, and discounters such as Primark and NKD have increased
Charles Vögele landed at the end of 2017 with a market share of three percent to the tenth place in the domestic clothing market.Richter says that consumer behavior s evolved and that Charles Vögele lacked a clear position in favor of the "cheap mark" or the "popular mark" in Poland
. 780,000 square meters. However, this reduction is slower than brick-and-mortar dealers lose business to online competition.
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