There are news stories that have been seen coming for so long that they are no longer surprising when you read them in black and white. And yet it is the case that one would rather do without it.
The entrepreneur Bolko Kissling started out as the new owner of the renowned retailer a year and a half ago with big ideas. He wants to lead Görtz out of insolvency (the chain store has been in its first insolvency proceedings since September 2022) and has plans for new concepts: With “Lifestyle” he wanted to combine fashion and shoes, under “L0unge” branches with a high level of service should be run.
From the beginning there were question marks as to whether this could work. Whether the chain store, with now 44 instead of the previous 160 locations, would be strong enough to restart. But there was also a lot of hope and – here too – encouragement for Kissling, who wanted to try new things in a difficult situation for the entire industry. 2023, the company said, will be a practice year. He is fully committed to growth in 2024.
Instead of the hoped-for restart, the year 2024 was marked by bad news about Görtz. Suppliers complained about the retailer’s poor payment practices. Some stopped working together. In one case, shoes are said to have been picked up from the branches by bailiffs under police protection. If you asked Kissling, he was fearless and combative: When there is a big change in concept, sometimes things get crunchy.
But the bad news didn’t subside. Euro Delcredere stopped providing trade credit insurance for the shoe chain at the end of 2024. And in various locations, landlords filed eviction notices. The reason: outstanding rent payments. According to the Hamburg Regional Court, the arrears for two locations in Hamburg alone recently totaled more than 700,000 euros. Meanwhile, Kissling opened stores in Bochum, Frankfurt and Dortmund – almost as if the disaster reports didn’t exist. It was a few days ago that an industry insider told me in a background conversation: “I give Görtz a maximum of three weeks until bankruptcy.” That’s how it happened. Expected and unsurprising. And yet incredibly bitter.