Schuh-Welt Schuhhandels-GmbH, operator of branches with branded shoes and care products as well as textile and leather goods, has successfully completed its restructuring process under self-management. The insolvency proceedings opened in May were lifted as planned on October 1st. Dr. Jüchser from the law firm Lieser Rechtsanwälte acted as administrator, while the restructuring experts Matthias Bayer and Lukas Eisenhuth from the law firm Abel & Colleagues supported the company as general agents in the restructuring process. The Pirmasens district court has approved the restructuring plan presented by Abel and colleagues. The general representatives Bayer and Eisenhuth explain: “Self-administration is a judicial restructuring procedure to preserve companies while at the same time satisfying creditors as best as possible. This allows companies to restructure themselves in difficult situations. The management remains in office and carries out the restructuring independently under the supervision of the court and an administrator. The procedure allows for successful realignment while business operations continue to operate without restrictions. In addition, company successions can be successfully implemented.”
“The company used the self-administration process to reposition itself for the future and to regulate company succession. Business operations will now continue in a reduced but strengthened form with six branches. We continue to offer our customers branded products at affordable prices in our stores; “We would particularly like to thank the employees and customers who actively supported us during the restructuring process,” says the new shareholder and managing director Laura Carvalho. “We still have a way to go, but I believe in brick-and-mortar retail,” she told schuhkurier and thanked the suppliers for their support during the process: “Their support was very helpful for us.”
She took over the company from her mother Monika Carvalho on October 1st. The latter was managing partner for 30 years and is now only managing director. The six continued locations are one of the three branches in Kaiserslautern as well as the shops in Frankental, Groß-Zimmern, Gründau, Rodgau and Waldfischbach-Burgalben. The other two stores in Kaiserslautern will be closed. The location in Erbach was taken over by Roman Degenhardt’s Der Schuhladen on September 1st. Degenhardt explains to schuhkurier that the store, with around 1,000 square meters of space, will initially function as an outlet. Further plans are currently in the works, said the entrepreneur.
The online shop will also be closed. “We want to concentrate on our stationary stores,” says Laura Carvalho. Although the online shop served well during the corona pandemic – “that was our only chance in this phase”, the return rate has recently increased significantly, and the fees from platforms through which Schuh-Welt sells, among other things, have also increased in some cases increased sharply. In 2022, Schuh-Welt’s online shop was awarded the Mytoys Group Award in the Rising Star category.
