It is a story that is currently happening in many regions, it is an expression of the structural change in the shoe trade: On December 31st, owner Martina Wendel (63) and her husband Peter (66) will close the fourth-generation specialist shop Schuhhaus Wendel in Karlstadt . The clearance sale is currently underway in the full-range store, which recently focused on women’s and men’s shoes.
There was no successor in the family for the traditional company. The Wendels’ children have other plans for the future – and the family perceives the situation in retail as rather tense anyway.
The owner couple has spent many decades in the company. Trusting relationships have been built with many customers. Communication with customers often went beyond the mere consultation.
Nevertheless, the Wendels have also experienced changes in customer behavior. “People are becoming more and more demanding,” says Peter Wendel to schuhkurier. “Many people get information on the Internet and expect that we have the shoe they want. It is not uncommon for people to try on a shoe and then take a photo of it in order to buy it later on the Internet.” In general, many customers have become less friendly. In addition, there is a general reluctance to buy that the shoe retailer couple has felt in recent years. The best time, says Peter Wendel, was when there was no internet. The pandemic caused additional problems for the company.
But now Peter and Martina Wendel are of the opinion that it is time for a new phase of life. You say goodbye to retirement with both a laughing and a crying eye – laughing because it is well-deserved and crying because an era is now ending. What do they both want? “That we stay healthy and don’t have to constantly go to the doctor in retirement,” says Peter Wendel in an interview with schuhkurier.
It is not yet clear what will happen to the 100 square meter shop or the property in which the shoe store is located. The house belongs to the Wendels.
The closure of the shoe shop is part of a problematic development in retail in Karlstadt for several years. The city in Lower Franconia has around 15,000 inhabitants. According to Peter Wendel, there is another shoe store on site with women’s and children’s shoes as well as a shop with a focus on orthopedics – and a Deichmann branch. In addition, the city center is now also characterized by vacancies.
