Buyers emerge for 11 Bavarian Hellweg and BayWa stores
Bavaria Buyers have apparently been found for 35 of more than 110 Hellweg and BayWa DIY stores in Germany, including 11 in Bavaria, BR reported. The investors are expected to take over the locations and their employees, although some deals still require competition approval or final agreements with landlords.
Hellweg filed for insolvency in June. In southern Germany, the company mainly operates its stores under the BayWa Bau and Garten name.
Operations continue for now
Negotiations are continuing for the remaining stores. If no investor is found, they are expected to close by the end of November. The number of employees affected remains unclear; each store employs an average of 30 to 35 people.
The stores are continuing to operate, and wages and salaries are still being paid. However, the affected employees have been given precautionary notice, according to a company statement. Financing for ongoing operations is secured until the negotiations end, but it remains unclear which of the remaining stores can continue operating.
Stores expected to remain open in Bavaria
The following BayWa Bau and Garten stores in Bavaria are expected to be preserved: Bad Tölz, Burghausen, Dillingen, Grafenau, Nördlingen, Murnau, Pfarrkirchen, Poing, Schwabmünchen, Viechtach and Wolfratshausen.
No solution has yet been found for the stores in Bad Kissingen and Monheim, which operate under the Hellweg name, as well as those in Bad Windsheim, Bindlach, Diespeck, Dinkelsbühl, Freilassing, Fürth, Günzburg, Gunzenhausen, Illertissen, Karlstadt, Mering, Neuburg, Nuremberg, Passau, Rothenburg, Schrobenhausen, Simbach, Traunreut, Waldkirchen, Waldkraiburg and Würzburg.
Head offices to close
In June 2026, the companies applied to the Essen District Court for restructuring proceedings under self-administration. They cited supply bottlenecks, geopolitical uncertainty, rising rents, inflation-related cost increases and weak consumer demand as reasons for their financial difficulties. The court opened the proceedings on August 27.
About 340 employees at the companies’ head offices in Dortmund and Garching are already expected to lose their jobs. Hellweg has 2,900 employees, while around 1,300 people work in BayWa Bau and Garten stores.
Hellweg acquired the mainly southern German BayWa Bau and Garten chain from the agricultural trading and diversified group BayWa in 2012 and was allowed to continue using the name.