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The next bitter news for a large retail chain: clearance sales had to start at many locations. 1,100 employees fear for their jobs.
Porta Westfalica – The large furniture chain Hammer is in serious trouble. This has been going on for many months: In June 2025, the Brüder Schlau Group, to which Hammer belonged, filed for bankruptcy. The newly founded Hammer Raumstylisten GmbH, which took over the specialist stores, has also been in preliminary insolvency proceedings for a few weeks. Now comes the next hard news: an immediate clearance sale must be started in many of the 87 markets.
This is confirmed loudly by the provisional insolvency administrator Stefan Meyer from the Pluta law firm Westphalia sheet. “Since there is no interested party for the continuation of the Hammer specialist store concept for around half of the branches, clearance sales must be initiated in these branches at the beginning of the current calendar week (from March 16, 2026) in order to free up these areas for other concepts.” According to the New Westphalian and that Mindener Tageblatt 44 of the 87 Hammer specialty stores are scheduled to close – at the end of March and beginning of April.
Furniture chain Hammer: Immediate clearance sales at many locations
The currently 87 Hammer specialist stores are spread across different federal states. On the official homepage you can read about a sale with up to 50% on goods available in the market on most site pages. This probably means the clearance sale. The reference can also be found for numerous shops in Hesse (including Gießen, Bad Hersfeld) and North Rhine-Westphalia (including Hamm-Bockum-Hövel, Arnsberg).
More than 300 potential investors were approached. This happens via a so-called M&A process. However, the response was muted. Two parties are still interested in continuing the company as a Hammer specialist branch with a reduced number of branches. Another four interested parties are interested in the space to move in with their own concepts – and possibly take on Hammer employees.
Insolvency administrator Meyer explains loudly regionalheute.de: “Even if the existing conditions are extremely demanding and a breakthrough in the M&A process is not yet tangible, we will continue to pull out all the stops we can to find a continuation solution for the Hammer specialist store concept, or at least a solution that preserves as many locations and thus jobs as possible, be it completely or partially under a different concept and a different responsibility.”
Big problems at Hammer after another bankruptcy: 1,100 employees fear for their jobs
1,100 employees are now worried about their jobs. Your wages and salaries are covered by the insolvency benefit from the Federal Employment Agency until the end of March. The insolvency administration is spreading confidence – also that candidates for a takeover can be found. “In coordination with the landlords, an attempt should then be made to transfer the areas to these interested parties while, if possible, preserving the jobs there.” A large textile chain is also closing numerous branches. (Sources: Westfalen-Blatt, regionalheute.de, Neue Westfälische, Mindener Tageblatt, Lower Saxony Consumer Center, hammer-raumstylisten.de) (lin)
