Status: 08.11.2022 08:27
Many other department stores from Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof are threatened – and inner cities fear for crowd pullers. How have cities fared that have already had a branch closure? Three examples.
When Frank Helmenstein talks about Karstadt, he still gets a little nostalgic. “The Karstadt is missing,” says the mayor of Gummersbach. The department store in the city of 50,000, east of Cologne, closed about two years ago. Helmenstein had fought with great commitment to keep the Gummersbach branch – in vain. “That was one of my most painful experiences as mayor,” says the CDU politician today.
No “domino effect” in Gummersbach
In July 2020, when the closure of the branch had not yet been sealed, Helmenstein warned of a “disaster” for Gummersbach: “If Karstadt were to close, there would be domino effects here,” he said at the time ARD daily topics. In the meantime, the mayor is much more hopeful about the retail situation in his city: “The domino effect hasn’t happened, thank God. It’s not like rows and rows of shops have closed.”
Among other things, a vaccination center was set up in the Karstadt building itself. On the second floor – where CDs, stationery and toys used to be sold – is now a fitness studio. Helmenstein says that the ground floor will also be completely reused, and a textile shop has moved in here. Only the basement is only used as a storage room.
Karstadt have certainly torn a gap. According to Helmenstein, there is no longer a department store with such a wide range in Gummersbach. However, he does not see a major loss of attractiveness for the city center.
“High vacancy rates” in Bottrop
The situation in Bottrop in the Ruhr area is completely different: Here the city administration describes the consequences of the Karstadt closure as “clearly negative”. The “West German General Newspaper” even says the building has become a “symbol of downtown decline” after the branch closed more than six years ago. The attempt to establish another shopping center here failed.
“Actually, this is a prime location,” says Oliver Schröder, chairman of a business interest group, about downtown Bottrop. The consequence of the closure of the customer magnet Karstadt was that H&M and Douglas, for example, also withdrew from the city. As a result, the city center has continued to lose its attractiveness, says Schröder: “The result is high vacancy rates.”
As the city has confirmed, the discounter Netto is now to open a branch in the former Karstadt building. That would bring at least a bit of public traffic into the city center. It is still not certain whether the net will actually come.
Day care center and hotel in the old Karstadt building
Things seem to be going much better in Recklinghausen, which is around 25 kilometers from Bottrop. The “Markt-Quartier” is currently being built in and around the former Karstadt building. A hotel and an Aldi branch have already opened there. According to the city, a municipal daycare center, apartments, offices and restaurants are to follow.
The market quarter is a beacon of hope for the retailers in the area. “We hope that the city center will come alive,” says Julia Kortenjann, who runs a bookshop here. She was already able to use the newly opened hotel to accommodate an author who had come to her bookstore for a reading. From the bookseller’s point of view, the development of downtown Recklinghausen is going in the right direction.
“No panacea”
So what can other cities learn from previous experiences with Karstadt closures? The city of Recklinghausen sees close contact with investors as an important building block. Gummersbach’s mayor Helmenstein emphasizes the importance of the “city manager”, who supports retailers on behalf of the city and takes care of new tenants for vacant retail space.
At the same time, Helmenstein points out that every city has its own peculiarities; there is no magic formula. Gummersbach, for example, has a low unemployment rate and there is purchasing power. In cities that are different, other solutions are needed.