Saturn (store)

Saturn is a German chain of electronics stores in Germany, Austria and Luxembourg. With Media Markt it constitutes Media-Saturn Holding, owned by the retail trade company Ceconomy, which was spin-off from Metro Group in 2017.

Not to be confused with the Saturn Corporation.
Saturn store logo
Saturn store in Hamburg at night

There are currently 155 Saturn stores in Germany, 11 stores in Austria and 2 in Luxembourg in April 2019. The Saturn store in Hamburg is the largest electronics store in the world.

On 1 July, 2011 the 34 Saturn stores in France were sold to the HTM Group.[1]

Saturn stores in Belgium, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey have been rebranded as Media Markt[2][3][4] and in Italy as Media World.[5]

Saturn is known for its slightly coarse German-language advertising slogan "Geiz ist geil!" ("Stinginess is cool!") which was used from 2002 to 2011 and sparked a nationwide debate about consumer behavior and the situation of the German economy. The slogan quickly became common language and became synonymous with the German economic crisis.

History

The first Saturn-Hansa-Markt was opened in July 1961 by Friedrich Wilhelm and Anni Waffenschmidt at Cologne's Hansaring. Consumer electronics items were mainly sold to "diplomats from all over the world" on 120 m². In 1968 the two founded the company Hansa-Foto. Since 1969, private customers have also been able to shop at Saturn and Hansa-Foto. In 1972, the Waffenschmidts opened the first technical department store in Cologne with what they claimed to be the "largest phonograph record in the world". In the early 1980s, a large branch was opened on the Theresienhöhe in Munich, followed in 1985 by a branch in Frankfurt with the participation of Kaufhof. Saturn was acquired by the Media Markt holding company in 1990, both of which were merged into the MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group.

In 1992 there were seven Saturn Hansa stores (Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich, Dortmund, Hanover, Nuremberg, Gelsenkirchen).

The area of a market is usually between 2,000 m² and 10,000 m². An exception can be found in Hamburg with 18,000 m² and six floors which is the largest electronics store in the world. Its origins relate to the merger of the Horten and Kaufhof departament stores in 1995. In Hamburg, Knauhof and Horten had stores side by side in Mönckebergstrasse, at the main train station. Both Saturn and Kaufhof were part of the Metro Group, so the Horten store was closed and occupied in 1999 with the electronics store.

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References
  1. "Media-Saturn divests Saturn stores in France". metrogroup.de. 20 December 2010.
  2. "Merknaam Saturn verdwijnt in Nederland". tweakers.com. 27 June 2014.
  3. "Media Markt takes over Saturn". eurobuildcee.com. 22 May 2018.
  4. "Saturn Winterthur schliesst". tagesanzeiger.ch. 7 May 2013.
  5. "Rebranding – I negozi Saturn diventano Media World". mediacomunicazione.net. 14 July 2014.
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