German fashion retailer Keller-Warth files for insolvency after 162 years
The family-owned company, with 14 stores in southern Germany and nearly 90 staff, has filed for insolvency at the Ravensburg district court. Its stores remain open for now.
Symbolic image · Photo: Asurnipal / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Modehaus Keller-Warth GmbH, based in Biberach in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, has filed for insolvency at the Ravensburg district court. Founded in 1864, the family business runs 14 Warth stores at seven locations, including Biberach, Ravensburg, Laupheim, Überlingen, Freiburg and Oberjoch. Nearly 90 employees are affected and were informed on Monday.
The company cites the after-effects of pandemic store closures, falling footfall in city centres and higher costs. "Market conditions in bricks-and-mortar fashion retail have changed fundamentally – and we must respond too," managing director Günter Warth, who runs the business in the fifth generation, told the newspaper Bild.
The court appointed Ulm lawyer Michael Winterhoff as preliminary insolvency administrator. All stores remain open for now and business continues. "The Warth brand will not disappear from the region any time soon," Winterhoff told the Schwäbische Zeitung.