As an important contact point for tourists and locals, the Munich information center will remain on the ground floor of the town hall, that much is certain. Otherwise, however, the structural change in the city center with the closure of the traditional shop Sport Münzinger has also left its mark on Munich’s most central address. In the meantime, further changes are becoming apparent in the town hall on Marienplatz, which some of those affected are awaiting with concern: If the European Parliament agrees, a “European house” could move into the former Münzinger rooms on the corner of Weinstrasse from the middle of the decade, as the EU -Information and exhibition center an addition to the neighboring Munich information.
At the same time, after 27 years in the town hall, this is also a case for modernization and expansion. In terms of space, the Münzinger shop would also be an option – but only if the EU leadership does not decide to approve the first European house outside of a European capital. Should the EU house come, however, the information for citizens and tourists would have to be expanded at the current location, on both sides, into the neighboring shops. This would be a problem, especially for the amber shop on the right.
After Sport Münzinger had moved out of the Rathauseck in late autumn 2020, the Committee for Labor and Economics made an initial decision in September 2022 to build the European House at this location. In June 2022, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, reaffirmed her basic willingness, provided there was a corresponding parliamentary decision and a positive feasibility study. An interactive exhibition entitled “Experience Europe” aims to shed light on the common history and make the EU institutions visible, including in the form of an interactive 360-degree cinema simulating a plenary session in the European Parliament. In addition to these and other virtual attractions, personal contacts would also be available for questions and criticism. The corner shop at Marienplatz 40-44 would be rented to the EU Parliament for at least ten years as a “refined shell”.
Should be expanded: the town hall information.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Next door, in the Munich Information, things are now often cramped, loud and stuffy. Between 2005 and 2019, the frequency of visitors rose from 800,000 to more than a million visitors a year. In addition to improvements to the indoor climate, lighting and acoustics, the plan is now to separate the tourist information and the contact points for Munich residents, for example for registering referendums, with separate entrances. The individual consultation places of the citizens’ advice service are also to be relocated from the first floor to the ground floor in order to make the offer literally lower-threshold.
Two of the three affected shop locations are currently used temporarily: the Münzinger rooms will continue to be occupied by the health department for the time being. The previous vaccination center will be converted into a test station that will remain in operation at least until the end of February, or rather until April 2023, if necessary longer. The city wanted to terminate the café to the left of the citizens’ information center five years ago because of its own needs. After a postponement, the operator finally got out herself at the end of 2021. The “Competence Team for Cultural and Creative Industries” is currently advising freelance artists here.
The municipal department, as the municipal property manager, is now facing a difficult decision with the possible termination of the second shop, not only because of the name “amber shop in the town hall”. Founded in 1884 as an amber manufactory in Gdansk, the business emigrated from the Baltic Sea to Munich in 1919, where it moved into the Rathaus-Arkaden in 1956, initially located opposite at Marienplatz. 19 years ago, the founding family sold the business to the well-known Danish amber dealer Søren Fehrn.
Actually, the city does not give notice to tenants who are loyal to their contract
His widow Vilia Fehrn has been running it since March 2022 – possibly even as the oldest amber company in the world and certainly as an independent traditional Munich business whose international networking had apparently led to misunderstandings: The draft resolution of the municipal committee states that the tenancy is not subject to the since 2006 protection restrictions of the inner city concept, as it is only a branch.
Vilia Fehrn and her employee Susanne Lutz, who runs the shop on site, vehemently disagree: the Asian and Arabic characters at the entrance are aimed at international customers, and the name “Amber House” is found worldwide because it is not protected is. Since many customers are from Taiwan, the company granted an explicit naming license to an amber museum in Taipei. The company gave up a second store location in Hamburg’s Alsterarkaden, also directly at the town hall, at the end of 2020 after sales collapsed due to the corona.
At least since then, the Munich store has been running as a completely independent business enterprise. The municipal department concedes that the city councilors may have made the decision to close the amber shop on the basis of information that was not entirely correct. As department spokeswoman Maren Kowitz explains, this has no impact on the unpleasant starting position: the city is not actually terminating shop tenants who are loyal to the contract and would also like to “keep the amber shop in the best location”.
However, there is also an urgent personal need in the public interest. The inner city concept applies in principle to new leases, but does not guarantee 100 percent protection. From the city’s point of view, termination seems justifiable, especially given that the Bernsteinladen was offered two vacant shops in the Ruffinihaus.
Arabic and Asian regular customers can hardly be diverted
This was not an option for two reasons, as Susanne Lutz from the Bernsteinladen team explains: Arabic and Asian regular customers in particular on a regularly scheduled trip to Munich could hardly be diverted. In addition, one got the impression from a visual inspection and in conversations with the current tenants that the renovation of the Ruffinihaus, which took place between 2018 and 2019, had not been satisfactory in everyone’s opinion, so that investments might still be waiting for the new tenants.
Despite the same rent, which would also have been suspended for several months to help with the move, the relocation “is not feasible for us, considering all the costs incurred,” says a letter in which Fehrn, Lutz and their employees appeal to Mayor Dieter Reiter the “established on the international amber market” and “worth protecting business for Munich”.