- Brenninkmeijer family
Two members of the Brenninkmeijer family founded
C&A , an international chain of clothing stores.In 1861 the brothers Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer, founded the textile company C&A, which is now a chain of clothes stores. Clemens and August were originally from Westphalia in
Germany and settled in 1841 inSneek , selling linen. In 1911 the company opened the first store in Berlin and today there are more than 400 stores in Germany.Today C&A and related companies are located in 16 countries throughout the world. Many of the companies they own are controlled through the COFRA group, based in
Zug Switzerland . In the nineties the company had to confront heavy losses, all the stores in Great Britain and Denmark were closed in 2001. New stores were opened in Eastern Europe and South America.For a period of time, they owned the
Eastern Mountain Sports company, Steinbach, Orbachs, Maurices, Millers Outpost and others through their family held American Retail Group. [ [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/40/40020.html Yahoo company profile of American Retail Group] ] In the 1980s and 1990s, they owned the Comark group in Canada, which includedBretton's department stores, Clark Shoes, and Collacut luggage stores. ["The Globe and Mail, "Meet the Green Family", 10 September 2008, p.B1]Notes
External links
* [http://www.cofraholding.com/ COFRA Holding website]
* http://www.c-and-a.com/aboutUs/company/history/
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