Hornbach has made history

Within the German DIY retail sector Hornbach occupies a special position that is doubly unique. Firstly it is the only group that is family-run, by what is now the fifth generation of that family. What is more – again a unique feature – it  is listed on the stock exchange and the SDAX (German share index). This is true of both the holding company and most recently of Hornbach’s Baumarkt AG as well.
The first Hornbach DIY store with garden centre opened in 1968 on an area of 4 050 m².
The nucleus of the firm was a workshop set up in 1877 by master slater Michael Hornbach in Landau, Pfalz. Through this initiative he laid the foundation stone for today’s group of companies, which employs a workforce of more than 8 000 and consists of the controlling company Hornbach Holding AG and four subsidiaries: Hornbach Baumarkt AG as the biggest operating company, which will be opening its 100th store during the anniversary year; Hornbach Immobilien AG; Hornbach Baustoff Union GmbH with ten builders’ merchants; and Hornbach Florapark GmbH with three stand-alone garden centres.
Growth through trading niche
Wilhelm Hornbach, who was the son of the founder, took the next step when he discovered the niche that would allow for the creation of further growth. Originally a slater like his father, he expanded the workshop by the addition of a trading branch in the shape of a “building materials shop” in the year 1900. This business selling building materials has remained a focal point of Hornbach’s product offer in its DIY stores right up to the present. In addition, Wilhelm Hornbach recognised the opportunities for growth offered by an entirely new building material, reinforced concrete. And so he added a “Special shop for structural compressed and reinforced concrete for building and civil engineering”. However, the first world war and especially the inflation that followed put an end to this flourishing business, which had at times employed a workforce of as many as 100.
Wilhelm Hornbach, son of company founder Michael Hornbach, in front of his builders’ merchant outlet in Landau, which he opened in the year 1900.
Whereas he never recovered from this reversal, going back to a reduced builders’ merchant trade between the wars, his sons Albert and Wilhelm Hornbach junior now built up a business of their own. From 1924 onwards this sold building materials likewise, plus terrazzo and cement products. Over and above this, though, they too hit upon an area with future promise. In the…