125 years ago the "Warenhaus Hermann Tietz" opened in Hamburg as the city's first modern department store. Since then it has experienced an eventful history:the Jewish founders are expropriated, the Alsterhaus and the Hertie group are created.
by Daniel Sprenger, NDR.de
A high atrium with four floors and curved stairs, decorated with ornaments:This is how the "Warenhaus Hermann Tietz" welcomes its visitors from March 1, 1897. You can expect a range of goods from all areas of everyday and not so everyday life and products from all over the world - and thus sets new standards in consumption at the end of the 19th century.
The city's first modern department store is located in Großer Burstah, diagonally behind the town hall and across from the Nikolaifleet. It is the first branch of the Hermann Tietz company in northern Germany. The group was founded by Oscar Tietz with the capital of his uncle Hermann Tietz and had opened its first shop on March 1, 1882 in Gera - under the name "Yarn, Button, Passementerie, White and Woolen Shop Hermann Tietz". Striking features of modern department stores can be found here:These include, for example, fixed prices, no deferral or writing options and a diverse, cross-industry range.
Relocation to Jungfernstieg just 15 years later
Only 15 years after the opening, the "Warenhaus", which initially spelled itself with two "a", is moving. Not very far, but still a bit further into the heart of the thriving commercial metropolis - to the Jungfernstieg. The second "a" is lost during the move.
"When the Hermann Tietz department store opened its doors on April 24, 1912, it was immediately well-known throughout the city. Even the old Tietz branch had delighted the people of Hamburg with its splendor of lights and its extensive range."Excerpt from the Alsterhaus company history
But on the Jungfernstieg, everything is even bigger - and the range of goods is even more extensive. The new department store is in the middle of the street on the Binnenalster - in the middle of the city, as it were - as wide as a block and with high window fronts. Structurally, it survived the two world wars almost unscathed and so the facade of the department store, which has borne the name Alsterhaus since 1936, is still the same today as it was 110 years ago. But behind the facade, German history first leaves its mark - and later the department store crisis.
First World War:Belts become cartridge pouches
Two years after the opening of the department store on Jungfernstieg, the First World War represented a turning point:"The war and its requirements regulated the range of goods," says a historic company brochure. "All full leather stocks were to be made into belts and cartridge pouches. Bed covers, camp beds, dried peas, lentils - durable food in general - had to be made available to the military."
In the golden 1920s, the department store experienced an upswing, the company "Hermann Tietz" developed into the largest self-owned department store group in Europe with branches all over Germany by the time of the global economic crisis. The department store on Jungfernstieg brings luxury to life:
"There were extravagant French hats, bespoke dresses, pure silk parasols, oriental rugs, books and much more. There was now a refreshment room, a writing room and a reading room available (to the customers), as well as a stunning food department with fresh meat, river and Saltwater fish, fruit and delicacies from all over the world."Excerpt from Alsterhaus company history
Forced sale during the Nazi era:"Hertie" is created
Then the National Socialists took power in 1933 and harassed Jewish entrepreneurs, including the Tietz family. In the same year, their department store chain with branches throughout Germany is sold to a bank consortium for a bargain price. "Your department store was systematically ruined by the politics and business of the Nazi regime," says the history of the Alsterhaus. The Tietz family flees abroad. From then on, the department store continued to be operated under the abbreviation of Hermann Tietz's first and last name:"Hertie" was born. From 1936 onwards it was called Alsterhaus.
After the war, the Tietz heirs demand their property back. The new Hertie boss Georg Karg, appointed by the banks, initially refused and claimed that the family had left the company for economic reasons. Finally, they agree on a settlement, according to which the family gets back the branches in Munich, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe. The Alsterhaus is also the Hertie headquarters until 1965.
Lots of renovations and official visits to the Alsterhaus
In the 1970s, the sales area in the Alsterhaus was expanded to 19,000 square meters for 40 million Deutschmarks through the purchase of a neighboring building. In 1983, the interior was remodeled and redesigned for a further 50 million Deutschmarks.
A portfolio for Charles and Mecki figures for Diana:Royal visit to the Alsterhaus on November 6, 1987.Four years later, the Alsterhaus celebrates its 75th birthday. Very special guests are coming to the anniversary:as part of their visit to Hamburg on November 6, 1987, the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, and his wife Diana paid a visit to the department store. The royal couple opens the "British Week" there and vigorously promotes products from the island. Thousands of people have come to Jungfernstieg to catch a glimpse of the royals. But only the Alsterhaus saleswomen, who wear scarves with the British flag to celebrate the day, have exclusive box seats. Charles gets a folder with views of the Hanseatic city as a gift, Diana gets two Mecki figures for the little princes at home.
Boom follows losses - and multiple takeovers
But even such a high-ranking visitor cannot disguise the fact:After the boom during the years of the economic boom and more and more branches being opened, the turnover of the Hertie Group plummeted from the mid-1980s onwards. Losses pile up. In 1993, the Karstadt Group finally took over the Hertie Group and with it the Alsterhaus. With another conversion, the sales area is increased to 24,000 square meters by 2005. In 2006, together with the group's two other luxury department stores - Oberpollinger in Munich and KaDeWe in Berlin - it was merged into Karstadt Premium GmbH.
In 2010 Nicolas Berggruen took over the Karstadt Group, in 2014 Signa Holding GmbH, headed by the Austrian billionaire and real estate investor René Benko, bought the majority stake in Karstadt Premium GmbH. The three associated luxury department stores will operate under the name "The KaDeWe Group" from now on. In June 2015 there was another change:The Italian department store group La Rinascente took over the majority stake in the traditional department store from Benko with 50.1 percent.
Beauty treatment for 80 million euros
This will be rebuilt again over several years from 2016 - for 80 million euros. The Alsterhaus was getting on in years and therefore needed a makeover, said a spokeswoman at the time. New groups of buyers are to be attracted with luxury brands and an attractive entrance.
110 years after the opening on Jungfernstieg, the Alsterhaus remains an institution in Hamburg after several facelifts and various changes of ownership. Only the former "Hermann Tietz warehouse" is no longer reminiscent today. Nothing of the playful architecture can be seen on the Great Burstah. On the site of the temple of consumption from 1897 there is a sober functional building of the Hamburger Sparkasse.