The joint venture of department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof and service provider Fiege aims to strengthen the logistics location in the Vogelheim district of Essen. The joint venture will take over the plant, which has already been used by Karstadt, from the logistics company DHL and will create around 500 new jobs there. The project is part of the new logistics strategy of the retailer, which aims to bring back logistics to external service providers. The group explained that the joint venture with Fiege enables Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof to take over operational responsibility for logistics and tailor-made solutions for the department store's growing business. The other plants, which the trading company uses, are also to be taken over again in the next year. The Essen logistics centre should play an important role for the retail group in the future in view of new service offerings; Fiege will take over the omnichannel processing of fashion articles for Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof and intensively further develop them. Thus, after the takeover of the location, long-term experienced employees will continue with the company in addition to a strong increase in personnel.