'Erst mal seh'n, was Quelle hat' — Germany's consumption bible went out of print

Quelle was founded in Fürth on 26 October 1927 by Gustav Schickedanz. The first catalogue, 1928, offered 2,500 articles on 92 pages; the 1954 main catalogue counted 72 pages and 1,200 articles; six years later, 582 pages in six million copies. To the last edition it grew to some 1,400 pages, vom Taschentuch bis zum Fertighaus — from handkerchief to prefabricated house. By 1974 turnover was 6.4 billion marks with 36,000 employees. The catalogue was the Herzstück of the business, and Sache der Chefin: Grete Schickedanz watched over every edition from beginning to end.

In 1999 Quelle merged with the department-store group Karstadt into KarstadtQuelle, renamed Arcandor in 2007 — the mail-order house became a line in a portfolio. A decade later the successor insolvency administrator's verdict was blunt: the IT was völlig veraltet, the online presence eine Zumutung, the whole business model hinter dem Mond — behind the moon. On 9 June 2009 Arcandor filed for itself and for Quelle at the Essen district court.

On 29 June 2009 Berlin, Bavaria and Saxony arranged a 50-million-euro Massekredit to secure the printing of the autumn-winter catalogue: 1,348 pages, two kilos, eight to nine million copies. Proceedings opened 1 September; on 19 October it was announced that no investor remained. Liquidation was confirmed 11 November; the last working day was 15 November — around 4,300 lost their jobs in Nürnberg, 1,300 more in December. Last sales day: 19 December 2009. Otto bought the name rights that month; since 2 May 2013 quelle.de is another company's shop. The brand lives; the company does not.

Two days after the end was announced, B.Z. wrote that the catalogue had been die 1000 Seiten dicke Bibel des deutschen Konsums — the thousand-page-thick bible of German consumption: Germany was grey and cold in the winters of the 70s, 80s and 90s, but only until the Quelle catalogue came home. The Museum of Industrial Culture in Nürnberg made it exhibit of the month in May 2012; from November 2024 to March 2025 the Fürth city museum held Quelle-Nostalgie, titled with the old slogan, with a reading corner for the legendary catalogue — a symbol of the consumption habits of past decades.