OBI (retail chain)

For other uses of "OBI", see OBI (disambiguation).

OBI GmbH & Co. Deutschland KG is a German multinational home improvement supplies retailing company. It is headquartered in Wermelskirchen and operates 668 stores in Europe, of which 351 are in Germany.^[1]

OBI Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte GmbH & Co. Franchise Center KG

Trade name	OBI Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Home improvement DIY store
Founded	1970 (1970) in Hamburg-Poppenbüttel, Germany
Founders	Dr. Emil Lux Manfred Maus
Headquarters	Wermelskirchen , Germany
Number of locations	668 (2018)
Areas served	Germany Italy Austria Hungary Czech Republic Poland Russia Slovakia Slovenia Switzerland Bosnia and Herzegovina
Key people	Sebastian Gundel, CEO, Maro, Entry and Baiter
Revenue	€7.7 billion (2018)
Number of employees	42,000 (2015)
Parent	Tengelmann Group
Website	www.obi.de

History

Obi was founded in 1970 by Emil Lux, Manfred Maus and Klaus Birker with the opening of the first Obi store in the Alstertal shopping center in Hamburg-Poppenbüttel.

In 1985 the Tengelmann Group acquired a majority stake in Obi. The share was increased in 2007 by buying the shares of the Lux founding family.

Obi has been present in Switzerland since 1999, in partnership with the Migros cooperative.^[2]

It formerly had operated 13 stores in mainland China but these were sold to B&Q in 2005.^[3]

The company expanded in Romania in 2008, where it opened 7 stores until 2010. Due to the economic crisis and the small market share, the company decided in 2014 to close the stores, 5 of which were sold to Jumbo. Also in 2008 the company opened the first 2 stores in Ukraine, followed in 2009 by a third store. They closed in 2013.

In 2015, Obi took over 68 stores from bankrupt Baumax, 48 of which are located in Austria, 14 stores in Slovakia, two stores in Slovenia, and four locations in Czechia.^[4]

In March 2022, Obi closed all operations in Russia due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[5][6]

On April 27, 2022, the chain's stores began to resume work in Russia. The retailer sold its business to a Russian investor. The businessman Josef Liokumovich became the new owner. According to him, he acquired the Russian business of OBI for a symbolic price of 600 rubles (10 USD).^[7]

On December 9, 2022, one of OBI's Russian stores burnt down due to a chemical explosion, resulting in at least one fatality.^[8]

Operations

Country	First store	Number of stores
Germany	1970	351
Italy	1993	55
Austria	1995	82
Poland	1998	61[9]
Czech Republic	1995	33
Hungary	1994	29
Russia	2003	27[10]
Slovakia	2008	14
Slovenia	1998	9
Switzerland (owned by Migros[2])	1999[2]	10[2]
Bosnia and Herzegovina (owned by Solomaher)	2003	1