Kaufland is a German

hypermarket A hypermarket (sometimes called a hyperstore, supercentre or superstore) is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, includin ...

chain, part of the

Schwarz Gruppe The Schwarz Group is a family-owned multinational retail group that operates grocery shops under the Lidl and Kaufland brands. It is the largest European retailer and the fourth-largest retailer in the world by revenue. The Schwarz Group stor ...

which also owns

Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...

. The hypermarket directly translates to English as 'buy-land'. It opened its first store in 1984 in

Neckarsulm Neckarsulm () is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, near Heilbronn, and part of the district of Heilbronn. , Neckarsulm had 26,800 inhabitants. The name Neckarsulm derives from the city's location where the Neckar and Sulm rivers ...

and quickly expanded to become a major chain in what was formerly

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

. It operates over 1,400 stores in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Moldova.

History

The history of Kaufland began when Joseph Schwarz entered the ''Südfrüchte Großhandlung Lidl & Co.'' company as a shareholder in 1930, which was then renamed ''Lidl & Schwarz KG''. The company expanded its range from fruit to a food and goods wholesaler. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the company was rebuilt: in 1954 it moved into its own property in

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. From the late Middle Ages, it developed into an important trading centre. A ...

and joined the ''A & O'' retail chain. With ''Handels- und Fruchthof Heilbronn GmbH'' the first regional warehouse was opened in northern

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

. In 1964, the company expanded its range of products by opening a meat department. In 1968 the first ''Handelshof''

discount store A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down cost ...

was opened in

Backnang Backnang (; swg, Bagene) is a town in Germany in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, roughly northeast of Stuttgart. Its population has increased greatly over the past century, from 7,650 in 1900 to 35,761 in 2005. Backnang was ceded to W ...

, and in 1977 at the same place a hypermarket of the same name was established. After the death of Joseph Schwarz in 1977 his son

Dieter Schwarz Dieter Schwarz (born 24 September 1939) is a German billionaire businessman, and owner of the Schwarz-Gruppe. He is the former chairman and CEO of the supermarket chain Lidl, and the hypermarket chain Kaufland. Career In 1973, Dieter Schwarz j ...

took over the management of the company. Taking the name of his father's former business partner, he introduced the ''

'' chain which were primarily discount stores and they quickly grew into 30 stores. As an alternative to these stores, he developed ''Kaufland''. In 1984 the first ''Kaufland'' hypermarket was opened. After the

reunification of Germany German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

the Kaufland chain expanded into the Eastern German states and opened numerous markets. The first East German ''Kaufland'' store was opened in

Meissen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albre ...

in 1990. In 1998, the first department store outside of Germany was established in the Czech Republic. In the 2000s, the company established branches in Slovakia (since 2000), Croatia (2001), Poland (2001), Romania (2005), Bulgaria (2006) and Moldova (2018). In 2006 and 2007, other store openings followed in Germany and Kaufland also took over shares of competitors. In February 2009 the corporation claimed to have 73,000 employees in Germany. In January 2010, it was announced that ''Karl Lupus GmbH & Co. KG'' was cleared by antitrust authorities to sell their 12 stores of the ''famila Handels-Betriebe GmbH & Co. KG Rhein-Neckar'' and the ''Cash-&-Carry-Markt Lupus Food Service'' with 1,400 employees to Kaufland. In January 2010, the Kaufland group had purchased all five Schleckerland drug stores in Ehingen, Geislingen, Tempe,

Neu-Ulm Neu-Ulm (Swabian: ''Nej-Ulm'') is the capital of the Neu-Ulm district and a town in Swabia, Bavaria. Neighbouring towns include Ulm, Senden, Pfaffenhofen an der Roth, Holzheim, Nersingen and Elchingen. The population is 58,978 (31 December ...

Schwäbisch Gmünd Schwäbisch Gmünd (, until 1934: Gmünd; Swabian: ''Gmẽẽd'' or ''Gmend'') is a city in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. With a population of around 60,000, the city is the second largest in the Ostalb district and ...

and all but the Neu-Ulm store had been converted to the Kaufland brand by then. The local Schleckerland was closed down because Kaufland was already present in Neu-Ulm. From 2011 onward, all Handelshof stores were to be gradually be converted to the ''Kaufland'' brand and to be partly rebuilt and enlarged. In November 2016, Kaufland's parent company applied for Kaufland trademarks in Australia. In September 2019, Kaufland announced plans to open 20 stores in Australia. In January 2020, Kaufland announced it would leave Australia, two years after buying its first store and six months after starting work on its distribution centre. It had invested about 310 million euro and hired over 200 staff members but never opened a store. The first stores were originally expected to open in 2019 but the launch date had been pushed back to 2021. On 26 September 2019, the first two Moldovan stores were opened in the capital city of

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ), also known as Kishinev (russian: Кишинёв, r=Kishinjóv ), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial center, and is located in the middle of the ...

. Construction of the fourth Moldovan store have started on 23 July 2020, in the southern city of

Comrat Comrat ( ro, Comrat, ; gag, Komrat, Russian and bg, Комрат, Komrat) is a city and municipality in Moldova and the capital of the autonomous region of Gagauzia. It is located in the south of the country, on the Ialpug River. In 2014, Comr ...

.Sergiu Railean: „Mă bucură faptul că tot mai mulți investitori străini decid să-și lanseze afaceri în țara noastră"
/ref> The beginning of construction at the fifth Moldovan store in the city of

Ungheni Ungheni () is a municipality in Moldova. With a population of 35,157, it is the seventh largest town in Moldova and the seat of Ungheni District. There is a bridge across the Prut and a border checkpoint to Romania. There is another border ...

was announced on 6 October 2020.Lucrările de construcție a magazinului Kaufland din Municipiul Ungheni sunt în plină desfășurare
Kaufland.md

Operations

Gallery

Kaufland - panoramio (3).jpg, Kaufland store in

Bad Segeberg Bad Segeberg (; Low German: Sebarg) is a German town of 16,000 inhabitants, located in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, capital of the district (Kreis) Segeberg. It is situated approximately northeast of Hamburg, and west of Lübeck. It is famo ...

, Germany Kaufland, Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland.jpg, Kaufland in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland Litvínov - Kaufland.JPG, Kaufland in

Litvínov Litvínov (; german: Leutensdorf) is a town in Most District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 22,000 inhabitants. It is known as an industrial centre. Administrative parts Litvínov is made up of 12 town parts ...

, Czech Republic Kaufland NG Naša Košice.jpg, Kaufland in

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of a ...

, Slovakia Sofia - Kaufland.jpg, Kaufland in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

, Bulgaria Kaufland supermarket.jpg, Kaufland in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Croatia

History

Operations

Gallery

References

External links