Corona lockdown Munich: This is how the start went in hardware stores, garden centers and hairdressing salons

Hardware stores, garden centers and hairdressers are open again after a month-long lockdown. Here you will find Munich scenes from an almost historic day.

Munich – Many people in Munich have been waiting a long time for this day: After more than ten weeks of forced closure, hardware stores, garden centers and hairdressers were allowed to reopen their doors. The hair stylists in particular were extremely missed. After all, many hairstyles are now visibly out of shape. But the garden also wants to be prepared for spring. And there is always something to work with too. We asked the people of Munich why they stood in line on Monday.

7.50 a.m. – early risers conquer the hardware store: The morning that thousands of do-it-yourselfers in the region have been waiting for is freezing cold. Minus three degrees. Maybe that’s why there is only a small queue in the Hagebaumarkt in Unterhaching in the Munich district. It is 7.50 a.m. and the store is about to open. Employees bustle around the waiting customers. They take final precautions, spray the shopping trolleys with disinfectant. The mood is relieved. For some, opening the hardware store is more important than a vaccination appointment.

“I’m glad that I can finally get started,” says Tobias Dietz, 29, from Munich *. Shortly after 8 o’clock he is in the paint department. He has long wanted to redesign his room and has just stocked up on paint and brush. Jasmin Greiner, 34, from Unterhaching has also been in the starting blocks for weeks. For more than two months she has been waiting to be able to exchange her wall tiles. The day before the hardware stores had to close in December, she had bought the sheets. The problem at the time: Greiner had decided on the wrong color. And exchanging the whole truckload of tiles was no longer possible. Since then, the renovation plans were on hold and the tiles in the apartment were in the way. Accordingly, Greiner was in a hurry: “My first trip today led directly to the hardware store. I hadn’t even had a coffee before. ”

Munich: Lockdown openings for some flower lovers the most beautiful day in a long time

Günther Hiltl is store manager. He is also happy that things are starting again. “The people,” he says, “currently have time to take care of projects that had previously been put on hold for years.” Exhausting, labor-intensive weeks lie ahead of him. Finally again.

9 a.m. – A wagon full of pansies: It’s 8:40 a.m. – twenty minutes until the Seebauer garden center in Munich opens. More and more people are lining up behind Agnes Liegl, 54. For them, the day of the reopening came just as requested. “Mondays are free and now is exactly the right time for the new spring planting in my garden.” Then the doors open. Customers flock to the plant paradise: daffodils, palms, primroses, tulips and violets as far as the eye can see. “Now it was high time, I was on rehab for a long time,” says Maria Detterbeck, 81. She has already loaded her shopping cart up to the brim with yellow pansies. When not in lockdown, she comes to the garden center every week. “When I read that the Seebauer was opening again, I immediately decided to go there on Monday,” says Susanne Dressler, 53. She brings a flower arrangement for an acquaintance of her mother, and for herself she gets colorful primroses for the courtyard.

Arnold Uhrig, 70, came specially from Sankt Wolfgang in the Erding district. He was driving his car for almost an hour. His goal: a green plant for himself and a houseplant and tulips for the couple he looks after. For some flower lovers, it is the best day in a long time. “We’ve already shopped like crazy,” says Marie-Luise Lewitzki with a laugh. She and Norbert Hinze have already selected several shade plants and colorful flowers for the terrace. What is still missing are the beloved daffodils. Out of desperation, Lewitzki had already bought this in the supermarket during lockdown times. “But they didn’t last long,” she says.

Munich’s hardware store and garden center: Employee “happy about everyday life” – but for how long?

12 noon – longing for color in the obi market: This is slowly becoming routine for the Obi employees. Close, open, close, open. “The rush is similar to that after the first lockdown last year,” says an employee of the Obi branch on Westendstrasse in Munich. The parking lot is well filled at 12 noon, but not overcrowded either.

“I long for something new, something colorful,” says customer Marianne K. from Munich. The 71-year-old has covered herself with plenty of white paint – she wants to redesign her living room. To be able to go to the hardware store, to browse the range, she has missed all of that very much in the last few weeks. “It was now really time for the reopening to come.” The partially empty aisles in the market surprised the pensioner, who had expected “a lot more crowds”.

Richard Speicheringer, 68, also leaves the hardware store with a lavishly stocked shopping cart. In addition to flowers and color, he also selected lightbulbs and all sorts of odds and ends for the kitchen and balcony. Together with his son-in-law, there are some projects that have been planned for a long time in the next few days. “We were very happy that it was opened again,” he says. The retiree has especially missed the conversations with people from the field in recent weeks. “Talking to the sellers on site and getting advice is something different than browsing the Internet.”

The joy of the exchange is mutual, says an Obi employee. “A hardware store simply lives from service. We are happy to finally be able to go back to everyday life. “

Munich: Hairdressers open again after lockdown – “More like the family that pushed me”

Queuing for a chic haircut – many people from Munich rushed to their trusted hairdresser on Monday! Klaus Weichardt is also one of the first to stand in front of a hairdressing salon this morning. “I would have thought that the line would be even longer,” says the 48-year-old and laughs. He usually goes to the hairdresser once a month. “I like it when my hair is always nice and short.” The two-month compulsory break was not that difficult for him personally. “It’s more the family that pushed me.” And in the professional video conferences, one or two slogans came up to the long mat. “Then you know that it is time for a new hairstyle.”