The site was sold to the Düsseldorf fashion chain Peek & Cloppenburg in 1998, ending the Herzmansky department store's long history.

August Herzmansky, who originated in Odry in what is now the Czech Republic, opened a general store in 1863 in the 7th district at Kirchengasse 2.

[2] The concept was well received by the shopping public due to its upscale product range and fixed prices.

During this period, Gerngroß department store, which had originally partnered with Herzmansky, established himself with a dominant Art Nouveau building (1904) on Mariahilfer Strasse, which had become the main shopping street of Vienna.

After Falnbigl's death on 7 February 1932, his son Wilfried took over the management for a short time, but left the partnership in 1933.

[1] With the Anschluss, the store was "Aryanized" in favor of the Dornbirn-based textile producers Rhomberg and Hämmerle, and the previous Jewish owners had to emigrate.

In the period 1938–1940, the purchase of the property at Mariahilfer Strasse 30, giving increased frontage to a thoroughfare with greater footfall, led to an expansion of the sales area and the number of employees to 700 people.

In 1988 there was a fundamental conversion to an "adventure department store" (six floors with 15,000 square meters of retail space), opening on 15 September 1988.

On 4 March 1998 the first Weltstadthaus (world city house) concept store by Peek & Cloppenburg opened in the Herzmansky building.

Memorabilia and the bust of the founder, which previously adorned the foyer of the department store, are now kept in the district museum in the new building.