For example, the retail space behind the Italian restaurant at the level crossing in Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn – they are now home to a day-care center and the municipal company. In the street Am Markt there was once a reading café and a spice shop – today a tax consultant’s office is housed there. The situation is similar with a former shop at the intersection of Bahnhofstrasse and Holzstrasse – it is now also home to a day care center. According to Roland Spingler (CSU), all of these places are examples of the problems of retail in Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn.
In order to counteract this, his group is calling for a “concept to promote local retail”. This should prevent further shops from disappearing, which means that citizens migrate to neighboring towns or to online trading, “and our community thus becomes less attractive and loses jobs and trade tax revenue,” says the CSU application.
“We’re not so small that you have to say: you can’t do anything here”
Spingler admits that there are factors that make life difficult for retailers in the community. In addition to the Internet business, which is becoming stronger, these are about the Brunnthal industrial park and the discounter in Hofolding, both of which “take away our purchasing power”. And yet Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn has the potential for good local supply, the CSU man is convinced – not least because of the sufficient distance from downtown Munich. “We’re not big enough for retail to be a sure-fire success here. But we’re also not so small that you have to say: you can’t do anything here,” emphasizes Spingler.
The proposed concept is intended to help retailers. This is to be coordinated by the municipal business promoter; In addition, the CSU application encourages the integration of the business working group of the future workshop and the local trade association.
The reaction to the advance was restrained, at least by Mayor Mindy Konwitschny (SPD). She commented on the CSU application in the municipal council meeting with the words: “So you want us to put down on paper what we are already doing anyway.”