Karstadt aims to reinvent department stores in Berlin

German department store chain Karstadt is to open two stores in Berlin, that aim to reinvent themselves as a “networked marketplace”. It will be the first new Karstadt department stores in the German capital for thirty years.

Two new “marketplaces” open in Berlin

The store in the former airport Berlin Tegel spans 9000 sqm over four floors and should open its doors in 2019. The store in the Gropius Passagen will even open this October and spans 7900 sqm over three floors. They are set to become the new standard for all future department stores, CEO Stephan Fanderl said at the laying of the foundation stone in Tegel. The product range will be tailored to the location, and “the offering of in-store and online items grow[s] together in the closest way”, he claimed. 

The integration with online will consist of click & collect, a desk to return online orders and a click & reserve, in which consumers can make an online reservation for a particular item and then see and feel it in the store before really buying it.