Unsettled retail | Offenbach

The Offenbach Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the trade association are promoting a perspective. Eight shops in the city center are empty – not just because of Corona.

The Scheck-In-Center at Goethering is very busy. Since it reopened exactly a week ago, the new supermarket in the Goethe district has been very well received. “Local supply in the vicinity is particularly important in times of the Corona,” says Frank Achenbach, Managing Director of the Offenbach Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK). Especially with the many construction projects – such as new apartments and offices at Kaiserlei, Nordend and in the center – walking distance is crucial. Especially since Lidl in Berliner Straße will be closed until mid-November for renovation work. In addition, the opening of the Tegut, which will be integrated into a new building on Berliner Straße, is still a long way off. Originally, it was planned to be in autumn 2020, but now, according to the retail chain, it will open in June 2021.

As in all of Hessen, the retail trade has been open since March 8th. After the first storm of discounts on winter goods, the queues in front of the fashion stores have subsided. “The Click and Meet works so far,” says Stefan Becker, managing director of the M. Schneider fashion house and at the same time chairman of the trade association. But it is a huge bureaucratic effort for his company. “I employ six people a day just to handle that,” he explains. In the first week alone, he had 200 appointment bookings that were coordinated over the phone or the Internet and then had to be checked at the entrance and exit when visiting.

Actually, according to Becker, a certain number of people in the store per square meter would be a much better solution. The biggest question for him, however, is: how long can he keep on, given the rising incidence? “The retail sector is very insecure and needs a perspective,” says Achenbach. After all, the first step in opening the door was far from being profitable.

The IHK therefore advocates a path that breaks away from the hard definition of incidence values. “The retail trade is ready to continue investing in hygiene measures and is also not a hotspot for infections,” emphasizes Achenbach. In addition to solving problems such as applying for financial aid, the IHK is currently working primarily on “making companies fit for the future”. It is feared that many will not make it out of the Corona crisis.

The future concept stands

Eight shops are currently empty in Offenbach’s city center. Most obvious is the vacancy on the corner of Marktplatz and Frankfurter Strasse, where the Esprit fashion company and the Dielmann shoe store had their branches. Even before Corona, no successors could be found there. Negotiations with potential tenants in the Rathaus-Plaza on Frankfurter Strasse have also been put on hold. “With the Offenbach Mitte future concept, we have developed a perspective for the inner city,” says Achenbach. The city library should move from the Herrnstrasse to the city center; and the festival concept is intended to increase the quality and duration of the stay in the center. “Strategically and conceptually we have an answer, now we just have to implement it.”