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Praktiker AG was a German hardware store chain which operated in Europe. It was based in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
and opened its first store in 1978 in
Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
under the name bâtiself. Initially owned by ASKO, the chain became a division of Metro AG after the merger of ASKO with Metro Cash & Carry in 1995. It was spun off under the name Praktiker Holding in November 2005 and listed on the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (, former German name: , ''FWB'') is the world's 3rd oldest and 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time). Organisation Located in Frankfurt, ...
. Since 2006 until 2011 was listed on
MDAX The MDAX is a stock index which lists German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The index is calculated by . It includes the 50 Prime Standard shares that rank in size immediately below the companies included in the DAX index. T ...
and since 2011 until 2013 on
SDAX The SDAX (German abbreviation for ''Small-Cap-deutsche Aktienindex'') is a stock market index composed of 70 small and medium-sized companies in Germany. These so-called 'Small cap company, small caps' rank directly below the MDAX (mid-cap) shar ...
. In contrast to most of its German competitors, the company grew up by buying up various small DIY chains and building material stores. In addition, there was expansion into the new federal states and other European countries in the 1990s. After Metro AG's withdrawal as shareholder in 2006, the company experienced an existential crisis and posted high losses for years. Despite intensive efforts and considerable financial injections, the attempts to restructure failed. On July 10, 2013 Praktiker AG announced it would file for
insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...
at the Hamburg district court the following day for the eight domestic subsidiaries, including Extra Bau+Hobby. The insolvency application for Praktiker AG was filed on July 12, 2013 at the Saarbrücken District Court and on 25 July 2013 for the Max Bahr subsidiary. The Praktiker and Extra stores were closed on 30 November 2013, followed by the Max Bahr stores on February 25, 2014. External subsidiaries were not affected by the
bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
. All of them were sold to other companies between 2013 and 2015. The name Praktiker continues to be used by former subsidiaries in Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary and Turkey. In 2016 two German businessmen acquired the naming rights and opened under praktiker.de, a home improvement online store.


Operations


Germany

In 1979 Praktiker opened its first four stores in Germany. Over the years Praktiker took over many smaller companies and changed most of their stores into Praktiker stores: * 1979: 9 "BayWa" stores * 1985: 12 "Wickes" stores * 1991: "Esbella", "Continent" * 1993: "BLV", "MHB", "Massa", "Huma", "Extra", "Real-Kauf" * 1996: 27 "Bauspar" stores * 1997: 60 "Wirichs" stores * 1998: 25 "Extra" franchise stores * 2000: 27 "Top-Bau" stores * 2006: 76 "Max Bahr" stores The Praktiker management began in late 2012 with the transformation of 119 Praktiker stores to Max Bahr stores. At the end of this process in December 2013 Germany would have had 117 Praktiker and 196 Max Bahr outlets, compared to 236 Praktiker and 78 Max Bahr stores at the beginning of that process. Because of insolvency applications in July 2013, all those plans are stopped, with 54 former Praktiker stores already transferred to Max Bahr outlets. The companies Hellweg and Globus failed to reach an agreement with the
Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...
to buy 59 Max Bahr stores in November 2013. All Praktiker, Extra Bau+Hobby and Max Bahr stores were closed by the end of November 2013 (Praktiker, Extra, 40 Max Bahr stores) or at the end of February 2014 (remaining Max Bahr stores).


Europe


Former subsidiaries still using Praktiker name

The
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
n subsidiary, Praktiker EOOD, was sold to Videolux Holding AD. The company, which operates electronics retailer Technopolis, opened two new stores and reconstructed all Praktiker stores in the end of 2017. Praktiker
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
was sold on April 8, 2014 to Canadian investor Fairfax Financial. The 19 Hungarian Praktiker stores were sold to Papag AG in January 2015, then to Wallis Group in January 2016. In
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, Praktiker initially closed the 9 stores after it failed to find a buyer. Later stores were bought by Uygulama Yapı Marketleri Inc. and were reopened, followed by the opening of new stores.


Former subsidiaries

The three Luxembourgian "bâtiself" stores in Foetz, Strassen and Ingeldorf were sold in October 2013. The bâtiself stores were rebranded and are no longer related to the Praktiker brand. In
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, the first store was opened on November 29, 2007 in Donetsk, three more opened in
Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
,
Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...
and
Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
. The stores were sold on February 11, 2014 to Ukrainian investor Kreston Guarantee Group. The network was rebranded in 2017 as Leroy Merlin. Praktiker Romania S.R.L. which operated 27 stores in
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, was sold to Search Chemicals in February 2014. In 2017, 20 stores were bought by
Kingfisher plc Kingfisher plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It has over 1,300 stores in nine countries, and its brands include B&Q, Castorama, Brico Dépôt and Screwfix. Kingfisher i ...
, and rebranded as Brico Dépôt. The 24 Praktiker stores in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
were sold to Papag AG in March 2014. However, the group was declared bankrupted in 2017 and all stores were closed; some of the former Praktiker stores are now part of the Castorama network retained by Kingfisher. In
Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
, the first store was opened on October 30, 2009 in
Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...
. It was closed on November 30, 2011 due to the restructuring. In
Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...
, the company had planned to open a store in 2009 in Chişinău, but later canceled.


References


External links


Praktiker.de

Praktiker Bulgaria

Praktiker Greece

Praktiker Hungary

Praktiker Turkey

Praktiker Poland
(Archive)
Praktiker Romania
(Archive)
Praktiker Ukraine
(Archive) {{Commons category, Praktiker Hardware stores Companies based in Hamburg Retail companies established in 1978 Retail companies disestablished in 2014 German brands Defunct retail companies of Romania Companies formerly listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange