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Where trousers and T-shirts are normally draped, now packs of pasta, flour, soda boxes - and lots of toilet paper are stored.
In the small town of Bad Mergentheim in Baden-Württemberg, a family business is taking an unusual path to avoid corona-related closings: the Kuhn fashion house has been re-registered as a drugstore, is now a system-relevant business, is allowed to open regardless of the incidence figures - and in addition to articles for everyday use also sell fashion.
What was initially planned as a satirical symbolic act is tolerated by the authorities - and causes retailers far beyond the district to ponder: Is this the right way to prevent inner cities from becoming extinct in the pandemic year?
Johannes Kuhn, managing director in the third generation, on an idea that arose out of necessity.
ICONIST:
Mr. Kuhn, you have
redesignated
your fashion store as a "toilet paper flagship store".
How did you come up with that?
Johannes Kuhn:
A fashion house from Emmendingen near Freiburg had the idea before us.
We wanted to follow suit in order to make a statement: It cannot be that supermarkets are allowed to sell fashion and sporting goods and the rest of the retail trade is constantly exposed to new regulations and closings during the pandemic, some of which are really no longer comprehensible.
Why should it be less dangerous for the infection process, for example, to stand in line at the checkout in the supermarket than to buy a new sweater in the fashion store?
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So we turned the tables, applied for a business registration with the city of Bad Mergentheim, are now a drugstore and are allowed to open with a mixed range.
60 percent drugstore articles, 40 percent fashion.
The matter was settled within two days.
The fact that we now call ourselves “toilet paper flagship store” with a wink is aimed at the absurdity of the corona regulations in retail: We are now exposed to far fewer requirements for the hygiene concept than before.
ICONIST:
What are they?
Kuhn:
We have set up disinfection stations everywhere, the distance is guaranteed, we count the customers - but we don't make any appointments, we don't record who comes in and out when.
That's not necessary for drugstores.
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ICONIST:
Your action was conceived as an ironic protest; you have now been open for two weeks.
Would you have thought you could really get away with the concept?
Kuhn:
Well, everything we do is legal, otherwise the public order office would have long been on the mat.
Incidentally, our idea found numerous imitators, here in Bad Mergentheim almost all shops were open a few days later.
But an insane number of retailers from the rest of northern Baden-Württemberg also wrote to us who wanted to know: How does it work, how did you do it, what do we have to consider if we also want to adopt the concept?
Two generations of the Kuhn family of fashion entrepreneurs from Bad Mergentheim: Hans-Joachim, Christiane, Maike and Johannes Kuhn
Source: Philipp Reinhard / Modehaus Kuhn
ICONIST:
But there was also harsh criticism in the local press.
It was said, for example, that they opened the shop regardless of loss and fought with unfair means.
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Kuhn:
In response to this criticism, I would like to reply that people don't seem to understand what the months-long lockdown means for a business like ours.
We have a sales area of 4,000 square meters, 80 employees, most of whom we had to send on short-time work, a financial situation that is always on the verge of bankruptcy.
And many shops are like us.
If politicians were to offer us a sensible concept of how we can better cope with this crisis in stationary retail, we would love to implement it!
But that just doesn't happen.
And I think that as an entrepreneur you can't stay in a state of fear, you have to be courageous somewhere to make the best of the situation with the means available.
ICONIST:
The current
issue
is always about balancing economic interests and fighting the pandemic.
Don't you worry about getting into the corner of "Corona deniers"?
Kuhn:
Of course, we definitely don't want that.
We are doing everything we can to stop the spread of the pandemic.
But that's how it is: The RKI classifies the risk of contracting the virus in retail outlets as low.
When we organized shopping by appointment and recorded all the data, the health department never asked for this data.
They also know that everyone in the store keeps their distance, constantly disinfects their hands and so on, so they try to understand the infection in positive cases in their private surroundings, where a mask may not always be worn.
ICONIST:
Nonetheless, with the concept you are positioning yourself against the official concept for opening up the retail sector, which of course does not actually provide for such loopholes.
Kuhn:
In Baden-Württemberg shops are only allowed to offer Click & Collect, i.e. online orders with pick-up, if the incidence rises above 100.
Here in the Main-Tauber district we were well above this value a few days ago, but now below it again - how should we reorganize our business every few days?
I think that the city treats our idea quite accommodating, shows the current mood in the country quite well: It is clear that the inner cities will become deserted if something does not change soon.
ICONIST:
What has to happen to save retail?
Kuhn: In
my opinion, stationary retail must be subsidized, which could be financed, for example, by taxing the large online competition differently.
Surely it cannot be that retailers who bring quality of life into the inner cities, who sometimes pay high rents for their location, are now in a significantly worse position than online retailers who do not contribute anything to the inner city concept.
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ICONIST:
What do you think of the idea of the retail association HDE to liven up the retail trade with shopping vouchers?
Kuhn:
I think that's great, of course!
Perhaps a voucher system could also alleviate the panic of going to a store at all.
The desire to shop is there with the people, it is just no longer lived out in the city centers.