Despite the shops that have been closed for a long time during the corona pandemic and despite the increasingly popular online trade, Hofer’s mayor Eva Döhla (SPD) believes in the future of the pedestrian zone. “I believe that people want to meet, that they are drawn to the centers. People want to meet in their city, that is encouraging,” said the spokeswoman for the Franconian Mayors’ Association of the German Press Agency. However, she also emphasized that inner cities could not do it on their own. “For years, people had relied on it: the market would take care of it. The long closings have made the situation so worse that everyone realizes: You can’t leave the city center to itself or the free play of the market. You have to do something here and control it. “
City centers need other incentives in addition to shopping opportunities. “People have to come and be surprised. They should be able to come and enjoy something, grasp with their senses what is not possible online. Shops have to work out their strengths. I find stores with a mix of uses very interesting, for example a café is integrated. ” At the same time, it is important to make the regional identity visible, for example through regional products. “And the existing actors must also be digitally present so that they can be easily found.”