Famila Handelsmarkt GmbH & Co. KG

What Famila Handelsmarkt GmbH & Co. KG does

Famila Handelsmarkt GmbH & Co. KG (operating as famila Nordost) is a German self-service department store chain (SB-Warenhaus) founded in 1974 in Eutin, Schleswig-Holstein, and headquartered in Kiel. It operates approximately 90 stores across northern Germany spanning Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, and (since 2011) North Rhine-Westphalia, with each store ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 m² and stocking approximately 40,000 articles including around 900 discounter-benchmarked items. Famila is a subsidiary of the Bartels-Langness group, a family-owned German retail conglomerate founded in 1892, and is managed by three Geschäftsführer (Frank Hachmann, Christian Lahrtz, Klaus Stechh\u00f6fer).

Name

Famila Handelsmarkt GmbH & Co. KG

Legal name

famila-Handelsmarkt Kiel GmbH & Co. KG

Website

https://famila-nordost.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Famila Nordost operates approximately 90 self-service department stores (SB-Warenhäuser) across northern Germany, stocking around 40,000 articles each. A subsidiary of family-owned Bartels-Langness, the chain serves general consumers with groceries, regional fresh products, and in-store services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Grocery Retail

NAICS

Supermarkets and Other Grocery Retailers (except Convenience Retailers) (44511), Food and Beverage Retailers (445), All Other Specialty Food Retailers (445298)

SIC

Retail-Grocery Stores (5411), Retail-Food Stores (5400)

akta.pro primary industry

Warehouse-Style Bulk Grocers (Membership/Non-membership) (CRAHAMAB)

Keywords

• Self-service department stores
• Grocery retail chain
• Fresh food retail
• Regional supermarket
• Private label brands

Headquarters

HQ city

Rotenburg, Salzgitter

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Retail product sales: Primary revenue from retail sales of groceries, fresh produce, meat, dairy, frozen goods, beverages, non-food items (textiles, household goods, electronics accessories, toys, stationery), and specialty items. Stores carry approximately 40,000 articles per location, with a discount program of around 900 products priced competitively against discounters. Revenue is generated through point-of-sale transactions at store counters.
2. Ancillary services: Fees from additional in-store services including ticket sales (CTS event ticketing for ~180,000 events), delivery service charges, in-store vendor rental (anchor tenants such as pharmacies, bakeries, dm-drogeriemarkt), and commission from e-commerce partner integrations. Also includes loyalty/reward program redemptions and specialty food orders (fish, meat, cheese online shops).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Famila operates approximately 90 self-service department stores (SB-Warenhäuser) across northern Germany, each carrying around 40,000 articles covering groceries, fresh produce, meat, dairy, frozen goods, beverages, and non-food items. The company complements its physical retail with online specialty food shops for meat and fish (in-store pickup), the proprietary famila GO mobile app for digital coupons and Scan & Go checkout, and ancillary in-store services such as ticketing, bottle return automation, EV charging, and a delivery service for rural areas.

Product overview

Famila Nordost operates as a large-format self-service department store chain (SB-Warenhäuser) with approximately 90 locations across Northern Germany, offering around 40,000 articles per store. The core offering centers on food retail with complementary non-food assortment. The product portfolio includes proprietary digital services (famila GO app with Scan & Go functionality), online specialty shops for meat and fish, and private label brands (Biogreno for organic, Hofgut for dairy, vegan leben for vegan products, and Schneekloth for wine). Additional services include EV charging, delivery services for rural areas, IKEA pickup stations, event ticketing, and bottle return automation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Biogreno: Organic product brand for biological agricultural products, part of over 4,000 bio-products in assortment
• Hofgut
• Schneekloth
• vegan leben
• famila GO
• famila Wirtschaftskaufmann

Products and services

• Famila SB-Warenhäuser (Self-Service Department Stores) Self-service department stores offering groceries, fresh produce, meat, dairy, frozen goods, beverages, and non-food items for household consumers in northern Germany; each store includes specialty counters (sushi, butcher, fish, cheese) and co-located anchor tenants.
• Online Meat Shop (Fleisch-Onlineshop) Web-based ordering platform for premium meat and sausage products from famila's in-house butcher facility, with pickup available at chosen famila stores.
• Online Fish Shop (Fisch-Onlineshop) Web-based ordering platform for exclusive fish specialties, available for pickup at selected famila store locations.
• famila GO Mobile App Free mobile shopping companion app enabling customers to browse weekly offers, collect digital coupons, manage shopping lists, access recipe ideas, and use Scan & Go self-checkout at famila stores.
• Lieferservice (Home Delivery Service) Home delivery service bringing groceries to customers in rural areas of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and select regions where physical store access is limited.
• Treueaktion Loyalty Program Points-based loyalty program where customers earn points on purchases and redeem them for premium rewards including AEG household appliances, Tefal and Zwilling kitchen equipment, Fiskars tools, and Blackroll sporting goods.
• Biogreno Private Label (Organic) Famila's private label brand of organic/bio products featuring certified organic agricultural items sold across the store network.
• vegan leben Private Label (Vegan) Famila's private label vegan product brand offering a range of vegan food products; one of the first retail-owned vegan house brands in Germany.
• Hofgut Private Label (Dairy) Famila's premium private label dairy brand offering milk and dairy products sourced from regional North German farms.
• Schneekloth Private Label (Wine) Famila's private label wine specialty brand featuring premium wines presented in a dedicated wine depot section within stores.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 46 million customers shop at famila each year
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Shop-Apotheke.comminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 24 May 2008famila integrated shop-apotheke.com's online pharmacy offering (200,000+ products) into the famila website, enabling famila customers to access pharmaceutical products. Both parties cross-promote via flyers, posts, and direct mail to 2.4M households. Shop-Apotheke.com brings 2.3M+ monthly visits and 300,000+ registered customers.
• IKEAminorGTM or Marketing PartnerIKEA Abholstation: A truck-based collection point on the parking lots of six famila stores enables customers to pick up online IKEA orders at specified times. As incentive, customers receive a €5 famila discount coupon for their next grocery shop.
• Holstein KielminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsorship partnership for the '12. Mann' (12th man) promotion, offering famila customers the chance to win tickets to Holstein Kiel home games via a shopping-based sweepstakes.
• dm-drogeriemarktminorGTM or Marketing Partnerdm-drogeriemarkt serves as an anchor tenant co-located within famila store locations (e.g., at the Itzehoe market opening in 2025, dm-drogeriemarkt is scheduled to open in early 2026).
• lille Brauerei KielminorGTM or Marketing Partnerfamila and lille Brauerei received the 'Regional Star' award from Lebensmittel Praxis and IGW Berlin in the Innovation category for the 'Vereinsheim' initiative supporting regional clubs. Products featured in the regional suppliers section of stores.
• Regional Suppliers (North Germany)coreOthersOver 400 northern German suppliers regularly provide fresh products to famila stores. Regional suppliers include: Anjas Marmeladeninsel (Schneverdingen – fruit preserves), Bauck Mühle Rosche (biodynamic muesli), Becking Kaffee-Manufaktur (Hamburg – coffee), Fellinghauer Honig (honey), Heilight (free-range eggs, Stelle), Voelkel (Demeter/Bio juices), Bohlsener Mühle (organic grain), and many more. The 'Regional genießen' label marks products sourced within 50 km of each store.
• Sushi CircleminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSushi Circle operates a sushi fresh island within the fresh food area of selected famila stores (e.g., Itzehoe). Fresh sushi is prepared on-site daily.
• AEG (Electrolux)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerLoyalty partnership: AEG household appliances are offered as rewards in the famila loyalty program ('Treueaktion AEG'), allowing customers to collect points and redeem them for premium AEG products.
• Eat Happy (Sushi)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerEat Happy sushi concept launched in the famila store in Reinbek (March 2024), offering freshly prepared sushi on-site as part of the food service offering.
• BREMER Hamburg GmbHminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGeneral contractor for the construction of the new famila store in Itzehoe, building the facility to famila's specifications on difficult ground conditions (using pile foundations).
• Too Good To GominorGTM or Marketing Partnerfamila is a partner of Too Good To Go, offering surplus food at reduced prices through the app to reduce food waste.
• Bartels-Langness Gruppe (Parent)coreOthersfamila-Handelsmarkt Kiel GmbH & Co. KG is a subsidiary of the Bartels-Langness group, a family company founded in 1892 with activities in wholesale and retail food, bakery supplies, wine growing/trading, and pet specialty retail. Bartels-Langness provides centralized functions including HR (via bela-karriere.de), compliance systems (integrityline.app), and Group-level policies.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Rewe (Rewe Markt / Rewe Center): Operates full-service supermarkets and larger Rewe Center formats throughout Germany including Northern regions. Competes directly on assortment, fresh counters, loyalty, and increasingly on Scan & Go / mobile app digital experience.
• Marktkauf (Edeka subsidiary): Operates large-format SB-Warenhäuser as a subsidiary of Edeka across Northern and Western Germany. Comparable on store size assortment mix and integration with Edeka's national procurement and logistics scale.
• Globus Handelshof: Family-owned operator of large SB-Warenhäuser and hypermarkets across Germany, with strong fresh-food counters and private labels. Highly comparable business model to famila in terms of format, freshness focus, and family-controlled ownership.
• Kaufland (Schwarz Group): Large-format SB-Warenhaus and hypermarket operator across Germany with strong Northern Germany presence. Closest like-for-like competitor to famila's SB-Warenhäuser on store size (2,000–5,000 m²), broad assortment (~30,000+ SKUs) and discount-aligned price image.
• Edeka Nord (Edeka Minden-Hannover / Edeka Nord): Operates independent Edeka retailers across Northern and Central Germany with supermarket and SB-Warenhaus formats. Directly overlaps with famila in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony and Brandenburg, competing on assortment, private label, and regional supplier partnerships.
• HIT (Handelsinitiative Team / Versorgungs- und Dienstleistungsgesellschaft): German SB-Warenhaus chain operating 16 large-format stores typically 8,000–15,000 m², predominantly in Western and Central Germany with select Northern Germany sites. Comparable on large-format grocery and non-food, anchor-tenant model.

Emerging players

• Tegut: German specialty grocery focusing on organic, regional, and sustainable products with strong private-label and Bio positioning. Comparable to famila's Biogreno/'Vereinsheim'/4,000+ Bio assortment on premium, sustainability angle, although much smaller in scale.

Broad incumbents

• Aldi Nord: Headquartered in Essen, Aldi Nord operates thousands of discount supermarkets across famila's entire Northern German footprint. Although a different format (discount vs. SB-Warenhaus), it is the primary pricing benchmark for famila's 'Billiger-ist-keiner' program and pulls traffic from full-service competitors.
• Lidl (Schwarz Group): Lidl operates a dense discount supermarket network across Northern Germany within the same Schwarz Group as Kaufland. Functions as the second core price benchmark for famila and competes for weekly shop basket share.

Regional players

• Netto Marken-Discount (Edeka): Discount arm of Edeka operating small-format discount stores across Northern Germany. Regional overlap but different store format; competes for top-up and weekly shops and is referenced indirectly by famila's price-matching program.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/famila.nordost
• Instagraminstagram.com/famila.nordost
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/famila-handelsmarkt-gmbh-&-co-kg

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Famila Handelsmarkt GmbH & Co. KG