Present in five coutries

Hornbach’s illuminated logo high on an advertising tower modelled on a mighty screw radiates brightly into the night. Surrounded by large housing developments, the 100th store belonging to the DIY and garden centre chain opened in Prague-Repy last December. At 11,540 m², it is one of the German company’s largest stores and is Hornbach’s fourth store in the Czech Republic; the others are in Prague-Cerny, Brno and Ostrava. All the stores feature a pet department in their garden centres, offering a wide range of rodents and birds as well as fish. This feature is unique to Hornbach, as the only live animals stocked by all other combined DIY stores and garden centres are fish. And since the Czech pet product sector is still made up overwhelmingly of small businesses with a fairly limited range, the DIY chain perceives good prospects of attaining a signifi-cant market position in the Czech pet sector too.
The store in Prague-Repy is one of Hornbach’s largest outlets. In the picture: an aerial view of the store.
The company is pursuing this objective in Switzerland also. Following the Littau site near Lucerne, Hornbach established the largest DIY store in the French part of Switzerland in Etoy, near Geneva, on 19 February. The store has a retail area of 12 000 m². A pet department with aquatics section is incorporated into the garden centre and should attract animal lovers in the region. Unlike the Czech Republic, strong specialist retail groups such as Qualipet, Fressnapf, Cats & dogs und My Friend’s exist in Switzerland, imposing natural boundaries on any expansion by Hornbach in the pet sector, although with aggressive pricing, an in-depth product range and attractive presentation the DIY store should succeed in the pet sector even in Switzerland.
Unlike other combined DIY stores and garden centres, Czech Hornbach stores sell rodents and birds as well as fish.
Success was achieved in Austria some years ago. Although strong competition exists in Austria in the form of Fressnapf and a few regional pet product chains, Hornbach is now one of the leading specialist suppliers in the pet sector. The company opened its first Austrian store in Brunn am Gebirge back in 1996. It has now launched its tenth store in St. Pölten, thus getting ever closer to its medium-term objective of opening 16 combined DIY stores and garden centres in Austria. 
Hornbach at a glance
“There’s always something that needs doing”, is Hornbach’s motto - and Hornbach is always doing something…