Real (hypermarket)
Real (stylized real and real,- until 2017) is a chain of hypermarkets in Germany, until 2020 owned by Metro AG. It was formed in 1992, from the merger of chains divi, Basar, Continent, Esbella and real-kauf. Until 2014 it was also active internationally, in Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey; most of these operations were bought by French retail company Auchan Group. In 2018, Metro decided to divest the Real chain and in 2021, the Real brand began to cease trading for hypermarkets as several markets were taken over by either Edeka, Kaufland, Globus, Rewe or V -Markt and got rebranded with the brand of the respective new owner. The process of selling is expected to be finished by mid of 2022 with the remaining of 60 stores under the brand name of real. Real’s former website (real.de) was replaced by kaufland.de in 2021. The website for the store can be found at real-markt.de. History. In 2006, Metro acquired Walmart's 85 stores in Germany and 26 Géant hypermarkets in Poland from the French retail group Groupe Casino. In November 2012, Metro sold its 91 Real hypermarkets in Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine to Auchan for  €1.1 billion. In 2014, it sold its 12 Real hypermarkets in Turkey. In September 2018, Metro AG announced the split from Real and sale of all hypermarkets, and in February 2020, Real was sold to the German-Russian consortium of X+Bricks AG and SCP Group, part of Sistema group. In April 2021, after the new owner SCP had decided to liquidate Real and sell all outlets, the Real brand starts to began to ceased being used as a brand for hypermarkets. 270 outlets were or will sold to other supermarket chaines and got rebranded with the brand of the  respective new owner, while more than 40 markets were or will be closed. The previous owner's planned goal was to complete the complete liquidation of Real by the end of June 2022. Locations without subsequent use should be closed. In January 2022, however, it was announced that the remaining 60 Real stores that are not being sold will not be closed, but will continue to operate as real in the future. As planned, the previous owner is withdrawing from the plan to break up real on June 30, 2022 and is selling the remaining locations to a restructuring company  headed by the Frankfurt lawyer Sven Tischendorf. Restructuring is planned to ensure long-term continuation under the real brand. The Real headquarters in Düsseldorf will be dissolved as planned, and a successor company will take over some of the tasks. Purchasing and logistics are to be taken over by an external provider. Products. As well as food, Real also offers a wide assortment of household goods, electrical appliances, books, media, textiles and footwear (sports and regular footwear were concessions owned by Hamm Market Solutions GmbH & Co KG, based in Osnabruck, Germany), sports goods, and stationery. In addition to branded products , several store brands were offered including discount label "TiP" ("Toll im Preis" - Great Price), mid-price "real Quality", premium brand "realSelection", "real Bio" organic products and "Watson" consumer electronics.