Their market share has increased by two percentage points since 2018/19 to currently 27.5 percent. This is the result of a study by “Standort + Markt” presented yesterday by the trade association. This is the only plus for the “shoe box shops” with a lot of parking space and little rent. According to the study, inner cities have lost and shopping centers are stagnating.
The growth in specialist stores reflects the saving behavior of consumers. Clothing and shoes slipped in sales. Action markets (“one-euro shops”) and food discounters continued to grow. Whereas the furniture and hardware stores used to be the magnets, now the food discounters have taken on this role, says Roman Schwarzenecker from “Standort + Markt”. When it comes to vacancies, too, the specialty stores are the silent winners. Currently, 3.8 percent of the shops there are deserted. According to “Standort + Markt” boss Hannes Lindner, it is 4.1 percent in the shopping centers; in the city centers 6.1 percent.
Rainer Will, managing director of the trade association, even says that loosely scattered specialist stores close to the outskirts of the city are becoming “the new local suppliers”. In Corona times, people would also have gotten used to shopping by car and at a great distance. (haas)
Source: Nachrichten
