Specialist store chain starts sales in 44 branches

Porta Westfalica (NRW) – At the German specialty store chain Hammer, the situation is getting dramatically worse. 44 of 87 branches are about to close. Everything should actually get better. Since October 1, 2025, the furnishing and hardware stores wanted to restart with a consortium of investors as Hammer Raumstylisten GmbH. But now there’s a big clearance sale going on.

Hammer specializes in interior design and home textiles. Already in June 2025 he had Parent company, Brüder Schlau GmbH & Co. KG, filed for bankruptcy. The next setback came on January 27, 2026: that too The newly founded Hammer Raumstylisten GmbH filed for insolvency at the Bielefeld District Court.

Why the hardware stores are on the brink of extinction

And now the bitter step for them Hardware stores: “For around half of the branches there is currently no interested party who would like to continue the specialist store concept. We are therefore currently unable to make any statement about the affected employees,” said a spokesman for the provisional insolvency administrator Stefan Meyer from Pluta Rechtsanwalts GmbH to BILD. For these locations the Clearance sale initiated. What will become of these deals is still unclear.

Stefan Meyer describes the current situation in a statement. Accordingly, the wage and salary claims of around 1,100 employees in the 87 Hammer specialist stores operating nationwide will be covered by the insolvency benefit from the Federal Employment Agency until the end of March 2026.

The provisional insolvency administrator explains: “In total, the management consultant Dr. Wieselhuber & Partner approached over 300 potential investors. The response was cautious.” He gave the second reasons as reasons insolvency within a few months as well as the difficult market environment in stationary retail.

What’s next for the specialty store chain

Six parties are still active in the investor process. Two of them want that Pursue It is said that we will continue to operate as a Hammer specialist branch with a reduced number of locations. Four other interested parties are well-known names from the food and non-food industry with a focus on stationary retail. “These interested parties would like to continue their own business concepts in the Hammer branch areas,” says Stefan Meyer.

A continuation solution should be in place by the opening of the insolvency proceedings, planned for early April 2026. In the next two weeks, the creditors’ committee will decide how Hammer can proceed. The goal remains to find a way to maintain the company based on the existing concept and the maximum possible number of specialist stores and jobs.