Station: [255] The Company grows

Until the outbreak of WWI the business expanded with six branches in Saxony’s industrial centres and two beyond its borders. During WWI it stagnated, but a year after the end of the war the company continued to grow. Nuremberg was opened in 1926, Stuttgart in 1928 and the Chemnitz department store in 1930. Affiliate branches were located in Bremerhaven, Wismar, Munich and Mühlhausen. By the end of the 1920s, the Schocken Company with its headquarters in Zwickau, had developed into the fifth largest department store company in Germany.

While the competition were dragged into the whirlpool of the world economic crisis the Schocken Company continued to grow. The fact that the company had no bank debts because it was self-financing was an advantage. It refrained from taking credit and could therefore operate independently.

A curious discovery that had been used for decades was found in a border in a Chemnitz allotment garden area. It was a Schocken department store promotional sign with yellow writing on a blue background. Below the lettering „Kaufhaus Schocken“ or „Schocken Department Store,“ are all the branches of the Schocken Company.