Horten AG
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| joint-stock company | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | Duisburg (1936) |
| Founder | Helmut Horten |
| Headquarters | Düsseldorf, Germany |
| Divisions | department stores (Horten (1936-2004)/ GALERIA Horten (1988-2003) / MERKUR (1945-1988)) smaller department stores (DeFaKa (1936-1973) / Horten extra (1988-1993)) discount department stores (Hanse-SB 1974-1989) restaurants (bon appetite / KUPFERSPIESS)) Own Brands (Horten, Miss H.) |
Horten AG (Aktiengesellschaft) was a German department store chain founded by Helmut Horten in 1936 and headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.
With up to 80 stores throughout Germany, Horten ranked fourth-largest among German department store chains, after Karstadt, Kaufhof and Hertie.
Horten was one of the most modern German department store companies in the 1960s and 1970s. Many new stores were built and the traditional, long-established high street stores were renovated, modernized, and in some cases, expanded. Horten built the first department stores that included car parks and petrol stations. Horten wanted to be the department store of choice for customers from the suburbs who had their first cars and did not want to travel into the cities by bus or tram. In addition to their high-end downtown department stores, Horten built new "edge of downtown stores." Every department store featured a restaurant, mostly located on the top floor. In the 1960s they were called "KUPFERSPIESS" (Copper Kettle). Later, Horten began to reorganise them into self-service-restaurants and called them "Bon appetit" or "Horten-Restaurant," also combined together as "Bon appetit: Ihr Horten-Restaurant." In the 1990s Horten also began introducing the Galeria-concept for its restaurants and gave them a new food distribution sector and a lighter outfit. After Kaufhof took over Horten, they merged their two restaurant companies "Bel-Terine" and "Bon appetit" into one, dubbed "DINEA." Smaller restaurants with less service were called "Grillpfanne."
Horten's dark brown interiors morphed into a more modern and fresh look with the introduction of the new Galeria stores in the 1980s, with an emphasis on lighter colors such as blue, light gray and white. Some of the bigger stores added food courts called "delikatessa" and also added onsite supermarkets. After returning from a visit to the United States and returning with the concept, Helmut Horten opened Germany's first supermarkets in the basement floors of his department stores. They were innovative, modern, and much larger than most German grocery stores at the time.
In 1968 Helmut Horten sold all of his shares in the company and was not subsequently seen at celebratory occasions of Horten AG (like the 50th anniversary in 1986). Helmut Horten died in 1987, at this time his former company had been acquired by British American Tobacco plc.
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