Hornbach (retailer)

Hornbach Holding AG/
Hornbach Baumarkt AG
Industry	Retail (Home Improvement)
Founded	1977
Headquarters	Neustadt an der Weinstraße/; Bornheim, Germany
Key people	Albrecht Hornbach; Steffen Hornbach
Products	Home improvement products such as home appliances, tools, household hardware, and garden supplies & plants.
Number of employees	19,500 (2018)
Website	www.hornbach.com

Hornbach is a German DIY-store chain offering home improvement and do-it-yourself goods. Until March 2014, it was 21% owned by Kingfisher plc, a UK company, who also own the B&Q and Castorama DIY chains. Kingfisher sold off the interests as it was planning expansion in new markets that would be in direct competition with Hornbach. Kingfisher has since launched its Screwfix stores in Germany and Brico Dépôt stores in Romania, where Hornbach operates.

In the full fiscal-year 2007/2008 the net profit slumped 24% to 48 Mio. € after the company spent more on advertising and new stores.^[1]

History

In the 1960s, the Wilhelm Hornbach OHG was in a bad state, so his grandson Otmar Hornbach launched the idea of a do-it-yourself home improvement store after a visit to the United States. The business was filed on the stock exchange in 1987 and has expanded to a chain of 144 stores.

Otmar Hornbach died on 2 August 2014.^[2]

Hornbach in Europe

Country	First store	Number of stores
Germany	1968	99
Austria	1996	13
Netherlands	1997	15
Luxembourg	1998	1
Switzerland	2002	6
Czech Republic	1998	10
Sweden	2003	5
Slovakia	2004	4
Romania	2007	6