Saturn is a German chain of electronics stores in Germany. With Media Markt it constitutes Media-Saturn Holding, owned by the retail trade company Ceconomy, which was spun-off from Metro Group in 2017. The Saturn store in Hamburg is the biggest electronics retail shop in Europe.
Saturn is known for its slightly coarse advertising slogan Geiz ist geil! ( German for 'Stinginess is cool!') which was used from 2002 to 2011 and sparked a nationwide debate about consumer behavior and the situation of the German economy. The slogan quickly became part of everyday language and became synonymous with the German economic crisis.
The first Saturn-Hansa-Markt was opened in July 1961 by Friedrich Wilhelm and Anni Waffenschmidt at Cologne's Hansaring. Consumer electronics items were mainly sold to "diplomats from all over the world" on 120 m². In 1968 the two founded the company Hansa-Foto. Since 1969, private customers have also been able to shop at Saturn and Hansa-Foto. In 1972, the Waffenschmidts opened the first technical department store in Cologne with what they claimed to be the "largest phonograph record in the world". In the early 1980s, a large branch was opened on the Theresienhöhe in Munich, followed in 1985 by a branch in Frankfurt with the participation of Kaufhof. Saturn was acquired by the Media Markt holding company in 1990, both of which were merged into the MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group.
In 1992 there were seven Saturn Hansa stores (Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich, Dortmund, Hanover, Nuremberg, Gelsenkirchen).
Saturn shops are usually between 2,000 m2 (22,000 sq ft) and 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft) in size. An exception can be found in Hamburg with 18,000 m2 (190,000 sq ft) and six floors which makes it one of the largest electronics shops in the world. Its origins relate to the merger of the Horten and Kaufhof department stores in 1995. In Hamburg, Kaufhof and Horten had stores side by side in Mönckebergstrasse, at the main train station. Both Saturn and Kaufhof were part of the Metro Group, so the Horten store was closed and occupied in 1999 with the electronics store.
As of December 2021, there are 137 Saturn stores in Germany [1] and 2 in Luxembourg.
On 1 July 2011 the 34 Saturn stores in France were sold to the HTM Group. [2]
Saturn stores in Austria, Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey have been rebranded as Media Markt [3] [4] [5] and in Italy as Media World. [6] [7]
Metro AG is a German multinational company based in Düsseldorf which operates business membership-only cash and carry stores primarily under the Metro brand. As of March 2024, Metro is operating 626 wholesale stores in 21 countries, including Europe, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan.
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BSC Saturn 77 Köln, commonly known as Saturn Köln or Saturn Cologne, was a professional basketball club based in the fourth-largest city of Germany, Cologne. Established in 1977, Saturn won its first Basketball Bundesliga title in 1981, crowning themselves German champions. Saturn went on to win four titles in the 80s, as well as three German Cup titles. In 1993, the club was dissolved.
Ceconomy AG is an international retail company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Its history goes back to the Metro Group. Ceconomy operates more than 1,000 consumer electronics stores in twelve countries. In addition to MediaMarkt and Saturn, the group owns Deutsche Technikberatung. Approximately 32.5% of its sales are generated online.