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With the hard lockdown, the hardware stores in Germany have also closed with immediate effect.

At least for end users.

Craftsmen and tradespeople, on the other hand, are still allowed to shop in hardware stores, although not in every federal state.

In addition, in many places it is unclear which tissue producers are meant.

At least the option of Click & Collect remains as a way out, i.e. ordering and paying via the Internet with subsequent collection in the store.

Even for everyone.

Although this is not kept the same in every federal state.

“There is a catastrophic patchwork quilt right now,” says an audibly desperate DIY store operator who prefers not to give his name.

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The fact is in any case: In contrast to the first lockdown in spring, DIY stores no longer have a special position.

At that time, Obi, Hornbach, Bauhaus and Co. were still considered systemically relevant and were allowed to open continuously in at least twelve of 16 federal states.

The industry cannot understand that things are different now.

“The assortments haven't changed,” says Peter Wüst, General Manager of the DIY, Building and Gardening Trade Association (BHB), in an interview with WELT.

Especially since then, as now, the following applies: "Not only food is essential." There are also needs in other areas of life that have to be served immediately and not in a few weeks when the shops are allowed to reopen.

Wüst refers to assortments such as fuels like gas, coal or wood for heating on cold winter days, as well as articles for ice and snow processing, from slides to litter and split to salt.

In addition, animal feed and pet articles were also part of the basic needs of many households.

The subject of repairs is particularly critical.

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And that affects a wide variety of trades.

Wüst mentions, for example, the replacement of broken faucets and toilet flushes, as well as fuses and lighting, and, last but not least, necessary repairs to the house or in apartments, for which a wide variety of building materials are needed.

Hardware stores needed to avoid warehouse fever

Not to be underestimated is the need for materials for the “meaningful employment of citizens as a compensation for the prohibited leisure and outdoor activities”, as the BHB says.

"Above all, the employment of children and young people is very important here in order to avoid a camp fever," says Wüst.

Especially since, in contrast to previous years, hardly any families go on vacation and people are at home and have time too.

In the spring, this aspect still played an important role for politicians when evaluating DIY stores, according to the industry.

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"Why the federal government, the state governments and the regulatory authorities are moving away from their position in the second wave of recognizing DIY stores and gardening centers as a whole as systemically relevant and thus allowing them to be fundamentally opened up," complains industry representative Wüst.

"The longer the lockdown lasts, the more clearly the relevance of the ranges of DIY stores and garden centers will become."

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The past few days have already shown that the demand is high.

In any case, on Monday and Tuesday the hardware stores in this country were literally overrun.

For example, one company reports on Tuesday, the last regular sales day before the lockdown, of a 192 percent increase in sales compared to the previous year.

And elsewhere it could hardly have been less going on.

At the Toom hardware store chain, which belongs to the Rewe Group, fuel and frost protection were in particular demand, but also the Christmas assortments and the topic of repairs of all kinds, as a spokeswoman reported on WELT's request.

The companies assure that they can handle it.

"The trade is proven not to be a multi-spreader format," says the BHB.

And hardware stores are certainly not.

The association refers to the huge sales area averaging almost 6,000 square meters plus another 1,800 square meters of open space.

For comparison: a classic discounter is just around 1000 square meters.

At the same time, there is an airy room cubature, and the mixed format of building and open spaces ensures a high level of air exchange.

In addition, there is a strict limit on the number of customers and there are also admission controls.

"The fact that there were long queues in the parking lots in the spring is precisely because we made sure that the customers kept the exact distances," says BHB boss Wüst.

Hardware stores have to be closed due to equal treatment

That does not seem to concern politics at all.

In any case, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia does not name gatherings of customers as a reason for the hardware store closings.

Instead, a spokeswoman refers to a "principle of equal treatment with other parts of the trade", which must be observed.

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“In principle, the operation of retail outlets is not permitted.” This is what Paragraph 11, Paragraph 2 of the Corona Protection Ordinance of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia says.

In addition to the legal aspect of equal treatment, the significantly higher incidence should also be pointed out.

In the Rhine and Ruhr areas, only tradespeople are allowed to go to the hardware stores for the time being, but end consumers will be able to purchase via Click & Collect, whereby the transfer must be contactless.

"The opening up to traders, especially craftsmen, is mainly because they usually do not have a warehouse themselves," said the ministry's statement.

However, this approach is not uniform across the country, complains the industry.

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"The possibility of still receiving relevant products depends on the regulations of the individual federal states and can also differ again at local level," says Toom Baumarkt.

The BHB has now worked through all of these regulations.

The result: According to the association, a number of them explicitly allow the Click & Collect option, in addition to NRW these include Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hamburg, Berlin, Brandenburg and Lower Saxony.

Such services are again prohibited in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony.

Others have no detailed wording in the regulation.

"Now we have to call afterwards and ask which regulations apply exactly," says Wüst.

December is typically not a strong month for hardware stores

“The confusion that also arises from the sale of sub-ranges such as Christmas trees is not helpful in the matter, nor does it help to resolve the confusion among private customers.

Even the tradespeople no longer know when and where to go shopping. "

The BHB does not want to speculate about the economic effects of the hardware store closings.

Basically, so far: December is not one of the best-selling months for hardware stores, admits association boss Wüst.

In the exceptional year 2020, however, every other rule of thumb has already turned out to be wasted, typical seasonal developments have been eliminated.

Hardware stores have been in a constant boom since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to calculations by Klaus Peter Teipel Research and Consulting from the beginning of December, i.e. without a lockdown decision, the industry will grow by 13.7 percent in 2020.

This fits in with the fact that, according to surveys by Servicebarometer, 81 percent of German citizens made purchases in the hardware store in the first half of the year.

Otherwise values ​​around 70 percent are usual or, as the expert Teipel says: "House, apartment and garden are increasingly the focus of the Germans."