German Department Store Chain to Shut 40 Percent of Its Outlets

People walk past the entrance to Galeria Kaufhof on Frankfurt's Zeil, Germany, on March 13, 2023. Sebastian Gollnow/dpa via AP

BERLIN—Germany’s last major department store chain announced Monday that it plans to close two-fifths of its branches, months after it filed for insolvency protection for the second time in less than three years.

The long-troubled Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof plans to shut 52 of its current 129 stores in two phases, with the first closing down at the end of June and the rest at the end of January.