Germany’s premier drug store chain “Schlecker” has deemed its corporate structure too ineffective to continue in the changing German market. In 2004, with its overwhelming share of the drug store market crumbling, a restructuring of a large number of small stores seemed to be too great a burden for Germany’s largest drug retailer leading, instead, to the closure of around 1000 outlets. Recently Anton Schlecker, the owner of the drug-store chain, stated in Manager Magazine that a complete overhaul of Schlecker’s business structure is once again needed.

Since the start of its downfall in 2004, the company has experienced mostly setbacks. This continued in 2009 with an estimated loss of around 52 Million Euros, as reported by Manager Magazine. While the Schlecker CEO (Anton Schlecker) declined to comment on this figure, it is clear to all that the drug store is indeed in need of restructuring.

This restructuring will likely entail the creation of more Schlecker “Super Stores”, 250 of which have already been established. This model, adopted from the US, has apparently already proven efficient in Germany’s drug-store market. Schlecker has promised that the investments needed for the creation of these superstores are in a manageable range for the chain and Anton Schlecker has even stated the equivalent of “We are going to invest big bucks.”

The recent criticism aimed at Schlecker’s hiring of underpaid workers from the Meniar corporation in order to cut costs was also addressed by Anton Schlecker who noted that “Meniar is only cutting the peaks” and is only providing a small part of Schlecker’s 52,000 employees. Due to increasing political pressure, however, Schlecker has decided to terminate its contract with Meniar, stating that even though Schlecker has technically done nothing wrong, the public image in this regard must change. This seems a wise decision, considering the claims that the average hourly wage of such outsourced employees was around 6.50 Euros.