Micasa closes four stores and changes owners
As recently as 2025 the management was planning without any store closures. Now four locations are being dropped and new investors are taking over. What the overhaul means for staff and customers.
In March 2025 the incoming Micasa management was still planning without any store closures. A good year after the launch as an independent company, the picture looks different: four shops are to disappear, and a Swiss investor group is taking over all shares. The two managers who spun the furniture retailer out of Migros remain at the helm. Ownership is therefore changing while the same leadership has to handle the next restructuring.
Four stores to close – not all at the end of the year
Crissier in the canton of Vaud is hit first: the site closes at the end of 2026. Langendorf in the canton of Solothurn, Brügg in the canton of Bern and Buchs in the canton of Aargau follow at the end of January 2027. The company confirmed the dates to the news agency AWP. Inside Paradeplatz had reported on the closures beforehand.
Measured against the 30 stores currently cited, the cuts affect around 13 percent of the network. In Buchs, the shop in the Wynecenter also removes a point of contact for advice and for the free collection of online orders. Micasa lists these services on the store page. For customers, the cut is therefore more concrete than a change in the shareholder base: a familiar route for shopping or collection disappears.
What became of the 2025 new departure
Looking back shows how clearly the planning has changed. In an interview on the Migros corporate site on 19 March 2025, Manuel Landolt said: "We are taking over 30 stores and currently have no closures planned." That plan at the time was no guarantee that every shop would be kept permanently. But today's closures mark a departure from it.
Migros had announced the sale to management on 25 February 2025. Philipp Agustoni and Manuel Landolt were backed by Rethink. The transfer of operations was scheduled for 1 September; all employees and apprentices at the acquired stores were to be kept on.
According to Agustoni, the owner consortium at the time also included the German Brandstetter-Finger family and the Austrian Wiest family. Landolt described the business plan as designed for five years. To stand alone, the managers had to rebuild IT, logistics, the finance department and human resources, among other things.
Agustoni wanted to link large furniture stores, smaller shops and online retail. Looking at fabric samples and trying out sofas: he continued to see that as a reason for physical stores. That combination now has to work with fewer locations. Four closures, however, do not yet mean abandoning the store concept as a whole.
Fresh capital, open financial questions
According to Micasa's reply to AWP, the new Swiss investor group is taking over 100 percent of the shares. CEO Philipp Agustoni and COO Manuel Landolt remain operationally responsible. The new owners are to bring in additional capital as well as experience in logistics, digitalisation and technology. The company does not name them in the published reply.
How much money will flow in also remains open. Micasa cites the economic situation and changed market conditions as the reason for the location decisions. But the published replies contain neither the results of the individual stores nor a quantified funding gap. Why exactly these four shops are closing cannot be traced from them.
Inside Paradeplatz judges the earlier management buyout to have failed. What is documented is the announced change of ownership and the shrinking of the store network. Whether the earlier model was not economically viable or the new investors are pursuing a different strategy cannot be decided without the corresponding business figures.
The decisive figure is missing for employees
Micasa says it is examining follow-on options for the affected employees. How many jobs are affected and how many staff can continue working elsewhere does not emerge from the published replies. The 2025 commitment to continued employment at the transfer of operations does not answer these questions today.
For customers, by contrast, Micasa already names points of contact: according to the company's FAQ, if there are problems with a purchase from a closed store, the nearest open store and customer service can help. There Micasa also states that guarantees for purchases made before the transfer of operations remain in place and are assured by Micasa AG. This information dates from the 2025 transition.
The next test is therefore tangible. Fresh capital can give Micasa room to manoeuvre. For employees, the value of the realignment will show in whether the follow-on options examined actually turn into jobs. For customers, in whether advice and service remain reliably available with a smaller store network.
Sources
- AWP/SDA: company reply on the change of ownership and the closures, 2 October 2026, published on Watson. The current details come from the Micasa reply reproduced there; no separate public statement could be found in the Micasa press portal.
- Inside Paradeplatz: original report of 2 October 2026.
- Micasa: Buchs AG store in the Wynecenter.
- Migros: media release on the management buyout, 25 February 2025.
- Migros: interview with Philipp Agustoni and Manuel Landolt, 19 March 2025.
- Micasa: FAQ on service, guarantees and closed stores.
