Status: 10/21/2021 8:07 a.m.
It will be months before houses and shops can be used again after the flood disaster. Many retailers in the Ahr Valley are therefore daring an improvised restart – for example in a shopping center made of containers and tents.
The roar of the heavy transporters can be heard as far as the center of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. Heavy transporters slowly set down construction containers on the historic city wall. Here on the outskirts of the city, a provisional shopping mile will be built in the next few days with more than 60 retail units in the containers and also in tents.
A sign of hope
Almost all sales areas are already reserved. The square meter costs between nine and 13 euros warm. Fashion designer Mehtap Turan and her sister Meltem will soon be moving into one of the tents with their shop. For them, building is a sign of hope. “We had two shops in the center of Ahrweiler. The floods destroyed everything. It looked like a war. Even some walls were torn away by the water – the inventory and the collection anyway,” says Turan.
After the corona lockdown, their shops were only open for two months. “It was a great new start. Our warehouses were well stocked with newly ordered goods. The customers came. Then the flood broke through the region. Our damage is almost 200,000 euros. After the shock, we naturally asked ourselves: Is it possible?” Any further? That is why the containers and tents are so important to us. ”
With a third branch in Andernach, private reserves and donations from the region, Turan was able to bridge the gap financially to some extent after the flood. She has not yet submitted an application for state aid from the federal and state flood funds. Turan would first like to get her business up and running in the tent. “Together with other retailers, the store containers and tents should be an attraction and meeting point for customers. Our store in the tent is only temporary,” says Turan. As early as next March, she hopes to reopen her shops in the city center. “But many retailers have to do this together. Customers do not come to town because of a shop. But there is still no gas supply. We are still at the beginning.”
The temporary tent is still empty, but from November designer Mehtap Turan wants to sell her fashion here again.
Image: Mehtap Turan
“We won’t let ourselves get down”
Volker Danko is one of her new neighbors in the tent. Before the flood, Danko had a local wine shop. All that remains of the sales rooms is the shell. “Even we can only present our offer in a smaller area. But the message to our customers is that we will not let ourselves get down.”
The tent is another way for the wine merchant to continue his business until it reopens. “We already had good experiences with online trading during the Corona crisis. Now many companies are already ordering specifically from us for Christmas. They want to help the economy in the Ahr valley. We also offer direct warehouse sales on site.” Danko does not expect to be able to offer wines and delicatessen products in his shop again for around a year. Craftsmen and materials are difficult to come by. That is why Danko is preparing for a longer transition period.
Initially, glasses were sold on beer benches
Thorsten Hermann, on the other hand, has been working temporarily in construction containers for weeks. The optician had already reopened his shop on the outskirts of Ahrweiler at the beginning of August – in two containers that he had privately organized. At first he served his customers on beer benches. There are now four containers with furniture inside. Customers can be examined and advised here. “We were able to save some optician tools from the mud. We also received donations from the guild and optician colleagues,” says Hermann. His shop near the market was also almost completely destroyed. “Customer support after the accident was high right from the start. It’s not just about glasses. It’s also a small step towards normality. That is good for us all.”
In a year, Thorsten Hermann wants to go back to his old location in the city center. An appraiser is still determining the exact amount of damage. Then Hermann also wants to apply for state flood aid. “The shopping mile with containers is very important to us. Customers and day-trippers have an orientation again as to where they can shop. Up until now, you can hardly get a coffee and cake here. That is now changing. It is a sign of life from us retailers. ”
For optician Thorsten Hermann, the improvised shopping mile is a sign of life for retailers.
Image: Thorsten Hermann
Sales start in early November
The Chamber of Crafts and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry support the difficult path back into business life. They also do not yet have precise figures on the extent of the economic damage. Nevertheless, there is a lot of help for the restart. At the end of the month, for example, the IHK is organizing a so-called future workshop together with the city. Then it comes to new business concepts or help with the application from the flood aid fund.
Designer Turan walks through one of the tents and inspects her future retail space on the outskirts. Some craftsmen are still working. They lay power lines and separate the individual parcels from each other for the retailers. Turan watches them at work. Sales should start in a few days. “We are from this region. The city and the people are very important to us. It was a terrible disaster, but now we have the chance to build something new. The containers and the tents are our new beginning.”