Werner Stümper runs two clothing stores in Bensberg. The renewed lockdown hit him in the middle of Christmas business. Now he has joined the nationwide campaign “We make attention” – to draw attention to the acute plight of retailers. Because the announced bridging aid could arrive too late for many dealers.
At the moment Werner Stümper drives a hybrid model together with his wife: Via videos or WhatsApp he offers interested customers items of clothing from his two boutiques “Clubman”And“ La Suite ”. “Loyal customers then visit us at the door and take something with them,” he says happily. The goods are sometimes sent or he drives a selection of clothing items to customers.
A visit to the Bensberg shops is prohibited due to the lockdown.
Lockdown is like a professional ban
Nevertheless: “The lockdown is a blow for us that cannot be completely absorbed. With Social media we draw attention to ourselves, we are in the store every day, ”explains Stümper. But with that he might only make ten percent of normal sales.
He is web-savvy, and has now found another way to draw attention to the emergency: Since January 11th, 11.00 am, the campaign “We make attention”, which Stümpner has joined, has been running.
With the slogan, which can be seen on posters in the shop window or on the social media platforms of the participants, the participants want to draw attention to the existence-threatening situation of retailers. The word game works, makes passers-by think and leads to conversations.
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The initiator of the campaign, who is active in the fashion industry himself, is concerned with nothing more than saving the “inner city” cultural asset. The lockdown is equivalent to a professional ban, it says on the website of the action. 1,500 dealers across Germany are said to have joined.
Situation uncertain at the end of 2021
“We haven’t received any support so far, in contrast to the November and December aid for the catering sector,” says Stümer. He calls for equality with restaurants and hotels.
Because the cost pressure in the retail trade is high: the winter goods are in the store, cannot be sold because of the lockdown, in order to finance the purchase of the spring collection.
“The money hangs on the hangers”, so Stümper’s balance sheet, but he cannot put it into the till. The problem is that in the fashion world you have to plan longer, half-yearly cycles when purchasing goods. That is currently not feasible, nobody knows what will be going on at the end of 2021.
Of course, he is trying to reduce fixed costs, reports Stümper. A landlord is himself a dealer and has actively offered a solution. The other landlord, however, assumed aid from the state.
Bleeding for the big cities
But help is not in sight, just as little as low-interest loans. “We are currently bleeding for the big cities”, Werner Stümper is convinced. There are large retail spaces there, and the risk of infection tends to be greater there. In the small shops in rural areas, however, the hygiene rules can be implemented well. With the shop closings, however, everyone is lumped together.
He does not accept the accusation from politicians that retailers do not rely sufficiently on online business themselves. “We want to be a service provider, we want to offer our customers real advice and a buying experience. Online sales are not our aim, ”explains Werner Stümper.
After the crisis, people would not switch entirely to online, but instead rely on the shopping experience again, he predicts. “After all, after the pandemic, customers go to restaurants again. Nobody will only order from the delivery service! “
The situation is dramatic. If things go on like this for another eight to ten weeks, there will be a mass death of small traders, Stümper paints a gloomy scenario.
Almost every fourth retailer is expecting Aus
Help is in sight with the so-called bridging aid III of the federal government. Actually, the trade association Germany, HDE, restricts. Bridging aid III should also apply to the retail trade. Nevertheless, the limit values for the application are so high that the planned eleven billion euros will flow rather slowly, fears HDE spokesman Stefan Hertel.
In addition, the aid would not arrive on time. Therefore, according to Hertel, the motivation and despair of those dealers who “pay attention” to themselves can easily be understood.
The desperation can be read in bare numbers: According to a current one survey of the HDE Association, 80 percent of retailers consider the help to be insufficient. 23 percent of retailers in Germany even expect that they will have to give up in the first half of the year without further government support.
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