The Karstadt supervisory board has decided to close six of its underperforming department stores across Germany, calling the move “inevitable.” Stores in Stuttgart, Hamburg’s Billstedt district and “K-Town” branches in Göttingen and Cologne will close in mid-2015, while locations in Frankfurt an der Oder and Paderborn will close in April and September. Stephan Fanderl was named Karstadt’s new chief executive.