Retail is not only maneuvered into a difficult situation with the Lockdown Light. The overwhelming online business is overtaking more and more retailers – not just in the Brothers Grimm City. The pandemic, which led to a complete lockdown in March, acted like a fire accelerator for the already precarious situation.
“The retail trade is fighting to survive to a great extent,” says Daniel Freimuth from Hanau Marketing GmbH (HMG). The situation is difficult, but “really violent impacts” have so far failed to materialize. “We currently don’t have significantly more vacancies than before the pandemic. Which of course says little about the economic situation of the operators, ”says Freimuth.
But this is, one asks the chairman of the Hanau Marketing Association (HMV) Mehmet Kandemir, “really, really difficult”. Kandemir has two fashion stores in the city center. He reports of “immense sales losses”. Still, Kandemir tries to make the best of the situation. But that is sometimes easier said than done. He talks about the hurdles in granting the loans promised to retailers.
During the lockdown he generated zero sales and even before that, due to the attack on February 19, little. Kandemir cannot get into online business. Certain brands that he carries in his range prohibit him from doing this. “But I still have to buy new goods for the next season and that even though I haven’t earned anything,” he describes a situation that the majority of Hanau retailers are currently dealing with got to.
Kandemir emphasizes that he is grateful for the support that is coming from the city. The “Grimmscheck” campaign, for example – where shopping vouchers can be collected and exchanged for Grimm checks – brings additional sales. “In September I made 13 percent more sales than the year before,” he says. For his annual balance, however, this is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. There, says Kandemir, there is a “big minus”. Kandemir’s forecast is bleak: “In the coming year, some stores in Hanau will have to close.”
There are already vacancies. Among other things in Hammerstraße. The former Christ branch is there for marketing. According to the city, there are interested parties.
A new tenant is also being sought for the former Dielmann branch on Hammerstrasse, which was last open last Saturday. There should be a signed lease for a new tenant. The Jack Wolfskin store on Lindenstrasse is also due to close. The former Douglas branch has been empty for several years. Now the shop is re-let. The city does not want to say anything about the new tenant yet.
The leather box in the Fahrstrasse will close in December. There are potential successors here. The shoe store Vivas shoes on Rosenstrasse is also closing. Another shop is to move into the premises from Rosenstrasse. The Hanau store on Freiheitsplatz has also been closed since the first lockdown.
Gastronomy businesses are also closed: For example, Café Central on the market square is currently closed. According to HMG for economic reasons, initially until the end of November. And the Goldmarie on the Old Town Market has been closed since March 19 and will not open again. There should be a gastronomic reuse here. The burger restaurant “Der Laden” on Salzstrasse has also closed since the first lockdown. According to information from the city, the restaurant will no longer open. There is someone interested in a gastronomic use.
“Wherever there are vacancies, there are also interested parties. That makes us confident, ”said Freimuth. Nevertheless: The medium-term and long-term consequences are not foreseeable. “What will happen if the corona aid ceases to exist cannot be said. The situation is difficult. “
The Dielmann Shoes branch on the corner of Sternstrasse and Hammerstrasse has closed. A new tenant should already be found here.
© Patrick Scheiber
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Britta Hoffmann-Mumme can also confirm this. “We can see that our members are not doing well,” says the external and internal marketing manager of the HMV and speaks for the total of 165 members of the association. She names existential fears, which the association tries to alleviate through positive signals, through help, advice and network support.
The city of Hanau is also trying to get support. Although, as Freimuth emphasizes, there is a fine line between asking “people, go shopping” and “please don’t come so close together”.
With the “Hanau AufLaden” campaign, the city has recently been trying to bring new energy into the city center. Part of this is the pop-up store on Rosenstrasse, the idea of which is generating national interest. The concept runs under the motto “Come to Hanau – give yourself a try”: young, new traders can apply with their idea for the retail space in order to try their hand at brick-and-mortar retail for a certain period of time. The city’s vision is to bring exciting and new concepts to Hanau.
“We want to offer a forum for sustainable retail concepts on this pop-up area, which we can also imagine at other, currently vacant shops in the city,” explains Freimuth. The local, personal, digital and sustainable aspects must be taken into account. The space is advertised with the question “HU’s next?”. The city’s hope is that such test phases will result in permanent settlement in Grimmstadt.
The city is currently as open as possible to any special permits, things that would not be possible under normal conditions, such as pavilions or poster stands. “We are accommodating here,” says Freimuth. “We support everything that could promote sales in a positive and benevolent manner.”
As one of the next big tasks Freimuth names the findability of the Hanau dealers on the net. We want to tackle this topic in the coming year.
This will be of little use to retailers like Kandemir, who are only allowed to sell certain brands in their range on the stationary due to brand specifications. In addition, Kandemir has observed a decrease in customer frequency since the introduction of the mask requirement and the renewed surge in the number of infections. He also looks towards the Christmas business with mixed feelings. “The events are missing,” he says, and by that he means above all the canceled Christmas market, which has always reliably ensured additional visitor numbers in the city center during the Advent weeks.
In order to meet his customers in an even more targeted manner, Kandemir sometimes leaves his shops open for half an hour longer if necessary. “Or I come earlier in the morning if my customers feel safer as a result. I prefer to do what is possible instead of just waiting. “
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