OBI (retail chain) facts for kids
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Trade name
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OBI Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte |
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Home improvement DIY store |
| Founded | 1970 in Hamburg-Poppenbüttel, Germany |
| Founders | Dr. Emil Lux Manfred Maus |
| Headquarters |
Wermelskirchen
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Number of locations
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668 (2018) |
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Areas served
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Key people
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Sebastian Gundel, CEO, Maro, Entry and Baiter |
| Revenue |  €7.7 billion (2018) |
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Number of employees
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42,000 (2015) |
| Parent | Tengelmann Group |
OBI GmbH & Co. Deutschland KG is a large German company. It sells things for your home and for DIY projects. OBI has its main office in Wermelskirchen, Germany. It runs 668 stores across Europe. About 351 of these stores are in Germany.
How OBI Started
OBI was started in 1970. Three people, Emil Lux, Manfred Maus, and Klaus Birker, opened the first OBI store. It was in a shopping center in Hamburg-Poppenbüttel, Germany.
In 1985, a company called the Tengelmann Group bought most of OBI. They bought even more shares in 2007 from the Lux family, who helped start OBI.
OBI Around the World
OBI started working in Switzerland in 1999. They partnered with a company called Migros there.
OBI used to have 13 stores in China. But they sold these stores to another company, B&Q, in 2005.
The company also opened stores in Romania starting in 2008. They had 7 stores by 2010. However, due to tough economic times, OBI decided to close these stores in 2014. Five of them were sold to a company called Jumbo.
In 2008, OBI opened its first two stores in Ukraine. A third store opened there in 2009. These stores closed in 2013.
In 2015, OBI took over 68 stores from a company called Baumax, which had gone out of business. Most of these stores, 48 of them, were in Austria. The others were in Slovakia, Slovenia, and Czech Republic.
In March 2022, OBI stopped its business in Russia. However, in April 2022, the OBI stores in Russia started to reopen. This happened because OBI sold its business there to a Russian investor. A businessman named Josef Liokumovich became the new owner. In December 2022, a fire broke out at one of the OBI stores in Russia.
Where OBI Stores Are
Here is a list of countries where OBI has stores and when they first opened there:
| Country | First store | Number of stores |
| Germany | 1970 | 351 |
| Italy | 1993 | 55 |
| Austria | 1995 | 82 |
| Poland | 1998 | 61 |
| Czech Republic | 1995 | 33 |
| Hungary | 1994 | 29 |
| Russia | 2003 | 27 |
| Slovakia | 2008 | 14 |
| Slovenia | 1998 | 9 |
| Switzerland (owned by Migros) | 1999 | 10 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina (owned by Solomaher) | 2003 | 1 |
Find Out More
- Official German website: http://www.obi.de
See also
In Spanish: Obi (tienda) para niños
