OBI (retail chain)

OBI GmbH & Co. Deutschland KG is a German multinational home improvement supplies retailing company. It is headquartered in Wermelskirchen and operates 668 stores in Europe, of which 351 are in Germany.[1]

OBI Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte GmbH & Co. Franchise Center KG
OBI Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryHome improvement
DIY store
Founded1970 (1970) in Hamburg-Poppenbüttel, Germany
FoundersDr. Emil Lux
Manfred Maus
Headquarters
Wermelskirchen
,
Germany
Number of locations
668 (2018)
Areas served
  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Austria
  • Hungary
  • Czech Republic
  • Poland
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Switzerland
  • Russia
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
Key people
Sergio Giroldi, CEO
Revenue €7.7 billion (2018)
Number of employees
42,000 (2015)
ParentTengelmann Group
Websitewww.obi.de

History

Obi was founded in 1970 by Emil Lux, Manfred Maus and Klaus Birker with the opening of the first Obi store in the Alstertal shopping center in Hamburg-Poppenbüttel.

In 1985 the Tengelmann Group acquired a majority stake in Obi. The share was increased in 2007 by buying the shares of the Lux founding family.

Obi has been present in Switzerland since 1999, in partnership with the Migros cooperative.[2]

It formerly had operated 13 stores in mainland China but these were sold to B&Q in 2005.[3]

The company expanded in Romania in 2008, where it opened 7 stores until 2010. Due to the economic crisis and the small market share, the company decided in 2014 to close the stores, 5 of them were sold to Jumbo. Also in 2008 the company opened the first 2 stores in Ukraine, followed in 2009 by a third store. They closed in 2013.

In 2015 OBI bought from Baumax, which went bankrupt, 45 stores in Austria, all 14 stores in Slovakia, the 2 stores in Slovenia and 4 stores in the Czech Republic.[4]

Operations
Country First store Number of stores
Germany1970351
Italy199355
Austria199582
Poland199859[5]
Czech Republic199533
Hungary199429
Russia200328[6]
Slovakia200814
Slovenia19988
Switzerland (owned by Migros[2])1999[2]10[2]
Bosnia and Herzegovina (owned by Solomaher)20031


References
  1. "Obi makes around EUR 7.7 bn in 2018". diyinternational.com. 12 March 2019.
  2. "Obi Suisse. Qui sommes-nous ?" Archived 2016-05-15 at the Wayback Machine (page visited on 30 March 2016).
  3. "European store giant pulls out of mainland". scmp.com. 29 April 2005.
  4. "DIY group Obi takes over Baumax". fordaq.com. 31 August 2015.
  5. "Ekspansja" (in Polish). Retrieved 2019-04-26.
  6. "OBI - О компании". OBI.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-07-29.


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