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Peter Wüst chooses drastic words.

"Politicians in Germany are currently taking stupid and ignorant positions," complains the managing director of the DIY, building and gardening trade association (BHB).

Governments around the world have understood how important home improvement stores are.

“In Germany, however, they have to remain closed.” It is not only food that is of vital importance for a long time.

"Our industry supplies people with the necessary repair supplies and with millions of products for home, garden and leisure," Wüst describes.

“This allows consumers to feel comfortable at home.

Then they can endure the lockdown more easily and really stay in their own walls and gardens. ”In addition, DIY stores could straighten out the borderline conditions for non-food purchases in grocery stores.

"Unfortunately factual arguments do not count at the moment."

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The strange thing is that the assessment of the situation was different in this country.

In any case, in the first months of the pandemic, DIY stores were still considered systemically relevant and, along with supermarkets, discounters and drug stores, were open as normal.

Since mid-December, i.e. the beginning of the new and still ongoing lockdown, everything has changed.

Since then, DIY stores have been treated no differently from fashion boutiques.

And the new Infection Protection Act now additionally cemented this situation.

Because of this, Wüst no longer understands the world.

Source: WORLD infographic

“Hardware stores and garden centers are the safest places to shop in view of their size, space and infrastructure.

Aerosols are immediately drawn upwards, and there are hardly any encounters, ”explains Wüst.

Customers also come by car and not by public transport.

"Hardware stores are not a threat to the infection," assures the industry representative, unmistakably angry.

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The BHB is now receiving support from psychologists.

“It would make sense to open up the DIY stores”, says Stephan Grünewald, the managing director and co-founder of the renowned Rheingold Institute.

"That would help in the coming spring to channel the pent-up energy virologically harmless."

Ultimately, this enables new ideas and design options in the home.

Grünewald also sees an opening as a signal on a completely different level: "That would strengthen the belief that has been lost in the proportionality of the Corona measures."

Hardware stores in particular could serve as a prime example of a paradigm shift towards a sensible way of dealing with the pandemic.

Especially since people finally have to be given a perspective in order to get out of the perceived endless loop.

"At the same time, it would show that politicians at least value and reward good hygiene concepts instead of punishing them."

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In personal conversations, politicians even seem to be open to these views, at least that's what association boss Wüst reports.

“People nod their heads a lot.

But when it comes to voting in the decisive bodies, factual arguments no longer count. "

Behind this is apparently the issue of unequal treatment and, in this context, a great fear of the judiciary.

“Politicians are concerned about court rulings”, one can hear behind closed doors.

This is dearly for the industry.

Business fell by a whopping 50 percent in the first quarter of 2021, reports the BHB.

"It shouldn't stay that desolate," says Franz-Peter Tepaß, who is Germany's managing director of the industry giant Obi and at the same time spokesman for the BHB board.

The hopes are on a successful vaccination campaign and, as a result, rapid easing.

Nevertheless, Tepaß does not trust itself to make a concrete forecast for the current year.

However, a decline in sales will probably be inevitable.

Source: WORLD infographic

However, the bar is also set high.

In spite of - or perhaps because of Corona - 2020 was the most successful year so far for the DIY industry in Germany.

Sales soared to 22.14 billion euros in the pandemic year.

This means that revenues are around 14 percent higher than the previous year, which was also good.

"People had to stay at home a lot and that's why they made the house and garden particularly nice," says Tepaß, explaining the jump in sales.

At the same time, DIY was a compensation for many in times of pandemic.

That is why Tepaß calls the hardware stores “emergency suppliers and comforters” in times of crisis.

Source: WORLD infographic

Indeed, the monthly statistics correlate very strongly with the individual pandemic phases.

Under the impression of the first lockdown, for example, sales shot up by a good 21 percent in April and by more than 31 percent in May.

After that, travel bans also resulted in additional business for the nearly 2,100 DIY stores nationwide.

Almost all of the 22 product ranges have benefited.

Auto accessories alone were in the red in 2020, as the current BHB annual figures show.

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The jumps were particularly large in paints and painting accessories with an increase of 27.4 percent to 1.6 billion euros, in garden furniture and garden equipment, which also increased by a good quarter, but also in wood, construction chemicals and building materials as well as tools / Machines / workshop equipment.

Source: WORLD infographic

The crowd of customers has evidently expanded significantly.

“Do-it-yourself work is becoming a matter of course again for more and more people,” reports Wüst.

No wonder for psychologist Grünewald.

“There is already a lot of hammering and drilling going on at the moment,” explains the expert, speaking of the need to let off steam.

You then get into a certain project logic and forget the world around you.

In addition, you show yourself capable of acting and thus free yourself from the corona powerlessness caused by the invisible enemy.

And that obviously applies to old and young alike.

“Young people are now also coming to the hardware store,” reports industry representative Wüst.

The previous dent in the customer structure is filling up again.

In the past few years it was completely different.

In any case, between 2008 and 2018 the average age of DIY store customers rose from 30 to 45 years.

Experts have already spoken of a demographic problem in the industry.

"Even the younger generations had nowhere to go and have therefore made creativity an end in itself," explains Wüst, according to which the industry has also targeted younger consumers with apps and video tutorials.

Home office and homeschooling play a major role in the projects, as the industry says.

“The home office will remain permanent, which is why many are creating a more professional infrastructure in terms of construction and furnishings,” says Wüst.

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But other activities and areas of life would now also be relocated to your own four walls.

The BHB names trends such as home gym in view of the long-term closed fitness studios or home wellness with a sauna and other feel-good aids and even a home restaurant with an outdoor kitchen in your own garden.

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