Kaufland Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Kaufland

Type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	1984; 41 years ago (1984)
Headquarters	Neckarsulm, Germany
Number of locations	1,591 (2025)
Area served	Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia
Products	Hypermarkets
Revenue	€35.2 billion (2024)
Number of employees	157,000 (2024)
Parent	Schwarz Gruppe

Kaufland is a large German supermarket chain. It's part of the Schwarz Gruppe, which also owns the well-known Lidl stores. The name "Kaufland" actually means "buy-land" in German. The very first Kaufland store opened in 1984 in a German town called Neckarsulm. Since then, it has grown a lot and now has more than 1,500 stores across many countries. These countries include Germany, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova.

Kaufland's Journey: A Look at Its History
Kaufland's Reach: Where It Operates
What You Can Find at Kaufland: Products and Services
- Freshness and Quality: Bakeries and Meat
Gallery
See also

Kaufland's Journey: A Look at Its History

Scanners for customers at a Kaufland store in Poland

The story of Kaufland began in 1930. Joseph Schwarz joined a company that sold fruits, and it was renamed Lidl & Schwarz KG. This company grew to sell many different foods and goods.

Rebuilding and Growth After World War II

During World War II, the company was destroyed, just like the city of Heilbronn where it was located. But it was rebuilt within ten years! By 1954, the company had its own building in Heilbronn. It also joined a retail group called A & O. The company then opened its first regional warehouse. In 1964, they added a meat department, offering even more products.

New Store Ideas: Discount and Hypermarkets

In 1968, Lidl & Schwarz opened their first "Handelshof" store. This was a discount store, meaning it sold products at lower prices. In 1977, they opened a larger store, a "hypermarket," in the same town. This big store was like the self-service markets in the USA. It was 1,000 square meters (about 10,760 square feet) and had 70 employees.

Dieter Schwarz and the Birth of Kaufland

After Joseph Schwarz passed away in 1977, his son, Dieter Schwarz, took over the business. He created the famous Lidl chain, which focused on discount stores. As another option, he developed the "Kaufland" hypermarket idea. The first Kaufland hypermarket opened in 1984 in Neckarsulm, which is still where the company's main office is today.

Expanding Across Europe

After Germany became one country again, Kaufland quickly opened many stores in Eastern Germany. The first East German Kaufland store opened in Meissen in 1990. Then, in 1998, Kaufland opened its first store outside Germany, in the Czech Republic. Over the next few years, it expanded into Slovakia (2000), Croatia (2001), Poland (2001), Romania (2005), Bulgaria (2006), and Moldova (2018).

In 2009, Kaufland had 73,000 employees in Germany. The company also bought other stores to grow even bigger. For example, in 2010, Kaufland bought 12 famila stores and a Cash-&-Carry-Markt. They also bought five Schleckerland drug stores, converting most of them into Kaufland stores.

Plans for Australia and Moldova

In 2016, Kaufland planned to open stores in Australia. They invested a lot of money and hired over 200 people. However, in January 2020, Kaufland decided not to open stores in Australia after all. They had invested about 310 million euros but never opened a single store there.

Meanwhile, Kaufland continued to grow in other places. In September 2019, the first two Moldovan stores opened in the capital city of Chișinău. More stores have opened in Moldova since then.

Caring for the Planet and Kids' Fun

In 2021, Kaufland announced a plan to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 80 percent by 2030. They are working with DHL to use special fuel for their ships, which will save 12,000 tons of CO2 each year. This helps protect our planet!

Also, in 2020, the Kaufland company in Slovakia created a very popular children's festival called Kaufland detský festival. It started with a winter fairy tale event in Bratislava. The festival even has a fun mascot, a raccoon named Kuniboo!

Kaufland's Reach: Where It Operates

Map showing European countries where Kaufland operates

Kaufland has many stores across Europe. Here's a quick look at how many stores are in each country:

Country	Number of stores	Ref.
Germany	788
Poland	251
Romania	193
Czech Republic	147
Slovakia	84
Bulgaria	68
Croatia	51
Moldova	9
Total	1,591

What You Can Find at Kaufland: Products and Services

Kaufland stores usually have about 30,000 different items! This means you can find a huge variety of food and other things you need every day. Besides products from many different brands, Kaufland also has its own special brands. One of these is Kaufland Mobile.

Freshness and Quality: Bakeries and Meat

Since 1994, Kaufland has had its own bakeries. This means they bake fresh bread and pastries right in the store! In 2018, Kaufland also started offering "Demeter" products. These are special organic and biodynamic foods, which means they are grown in a very natural and environmentally friendly way.

Kaufland even has its own places where they prepare meat. These facilities are in different towns in Germany and also in the Czech Republic. This helps Kaufland make sure their meat products are always high quality.