The Hamburg-based footwear retailer Schuhhaus Kay GmbH & Co KG ended its bankruptcy proceedings and completed its overhaul as part of an asset deal.
The company went into bankruptcy in November 2019 and proceedings were opened in early 2020.
On Feb. 12, Berlin entrepreneur Steffen Liebich’s company Goal acquired all the assets of Schuhhaus Kay, which operates under the trade name Schuhkay, through a special purpose vehicle. All employees, inventory and shop fittings were taken over and twelve of the original 24 stores will continue to operate in northern Germany, Liebich said.
Liebich also announced on Feb. 15 the restructuring of the of sister company Schuhkay 1882. The footwear chain belongs to Liebich’s portfolio alongside the shoe retailers Leiser, Schuhhof, Anika and Schlatholt. The investor took over the company in April 2020 and filed for self-administration due to insolvency in June in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Schuhkay and Schuhkay 1882 are two independent companies stemming from a common ancestor. The original company, established in 1882, was split in 1934 between the brothers Herbert and Werner Kay of the founding family’s third generation, resulting in two separate companies. While both companies used the pink and blue brand logo until 2017, remaining virtually indistinguishable, starting from 2018, the brothers Thomas and Joachim Kay, owners of Schuhkay 1882, adopted the new slogan “Passion for shoes at the fifth generation”, as well as a distinctive logo, a horse’s head with a top hat. By acquiring the two businesses, Liebich has once again placed them under a common ownership.
