Rewe Group invests: Toom hardware stores are facing major upheaval!

Rewe Group invests: Toom hardware stores are facing major upheaval!

The Rewe Group is planning extensive investments in its DIY store Toom. Given the growing pressure on Toom and the entire DIY industry, these measures are an important step in strengthening the company. This includes the modernization of the existing branch network as well as an interest in possible acquisitions in order to further expand and improve the business, as thesmittel Zeitung reports.

Toom, founded in 1978, has developed through numerous mergers and acquisitions. The company is based in Cologne and belongs to the Rewe Group. In addition to the Toom hardware stores, the company also operates the B1 hardware store discount stores and Klee garden specialty stores. Toom/B1 currently has over 310 stores across Germany and is therefore in sixth place in the market.

Financial situation and challenges

In 2023, Toom/B1 achieved gross sales of around 3.1 billion euros, which means fourth place in the Germany-wide ranking. Despite a slight decrease in total sales area, area productivity increased, peaking in 2020. Online retail particularly benefited from Germans' increasing enthusiasm for DIY projects during the Corona pandemic, which boosted sales in the DIY market.

The number of employees in the Toom/B1 hardware stores was around 15,100 in the same year, with Toom/B1 having the lowest number of employees per store compared to the competition. The gross turnover per employee is around 205,000 euros, which is slightly below the industry average.

Market development and customer satisfaction

The entire German hardware store companies achieved sales of around 37.3 billion euros in 2023, which is slightly below record sales. The number of locations and the total sales area have recently declined slightly, but Toom remains popular with German do-it-yourselfers due to its good customer service.

With the planned investments in the Toom DIY store business, the Rewe Group shows that it is optimistic about the future and is ready to actively address the challenges of the market. Further details on Toom's business developments can be found in the reports from Food newspaper and Statista.