In the Munich Conrad branch in the valley, everything seems to be the same shortly after the Easter holidays. Customers are looking for fire alarms, radios or computer components. Employees replenish shelves, give advice and accept repairs. Recently, however, it has become known that the electronics chain will close almost all of its branches, including those in Munich. In the future, private customers will only be able to shop online.
Nothing in the store indicates the upcoming closure. But the workforce is seething. “We’re still really shocked,” says someone who has worked at Conrad for a long time and found out about the management’s plans a few weeks ago. He wants to remain anonymous because negotiations are currently underway, which also involve severance payments. “People want to fobb us off cheaply, but we’ve ensured good sales results in recent years,” says a colleague. The Munich branch in particular came through the pandemic well, and he suspects business is not doing badly. The company does not justify the closures with the economic situation – but with the fact that “private customers meet their needs less in stationary trade”. Customers prefer to buy online.
The electrical retail chain still operates eleven shops in Germany, almost all of them in large cities. She wants to close nine of them this year, only the Wernberg-Köblitz location in the Upper Palatinate near the company headquarters in Hirschau and a branch for corporate customers in Hürth in North Rhine-Westphalia are to remain. According to a company statement, trading with corporate customers will become more of a focus.
The employees in Munich are disappointed and feel duped: Shortly before the news that the shop in the valley would also be closed, they were assured that things would continue for them. “This is a special branch,” says one of the employees. The head of the family business, Werner Conrad, has his own parking space here because he loves coming here. Around 40 employees will be affected by the closure in Munich, many of whom have been working here for decades. In all branches together, there are several thousand employees who will lose their jobs. The last branch is scheduled to close in November.
Inventors come to Conrad who cannot find their components anywhere else
Lawyer Tim Fink represents Conrad works councils at five locations throughout Germany in negotiations with management. He is now concerned with good severance pay for the employees. He is also trying to find a transfer company with which the employees would not immediately fall into unemployment benefits after termination, but would receive a fixed part of their net wages for a while. That would make the transition easier for many, because it is by no means certain that they will find new jobs quickly.
The closure of the Munich branch is also a loss for the city center. Inventors come to Conrad Electronic who cannot find their unusual components anywhere else. Conrad is one of the “magnets in the valley,” says Wolfgang Fischer, managing director of the Munich company initiative City Partner. The fact that the specialty store is closing is bad news. However, Fischer does not assume that more and more retailers would now decide against branches in the city in favor of their online business.
In the future, customers will have to do without advice and resort to online shopping for their special electrical requirements. For example Dirk Flothow from Munich, who lives in the Au and works in a sailing school. He likes to come to Conrad for the technical equipment, such a specialist dealer within cycling distance is very practical, he says. In his backpack he has banana plugs and grip pliers, as well as cables for radios that he just bought. The next sailing course will start soon, there was no time for an order on the Internet.