In the interview, Alexander von Preen assumes that 4,500 shops will be closed this year. This would make the vacancies further visible after around 5,000 shops were closed in 2024. Von Preen justifies this with the retention of purchase as a result of the war in Ukraine and the demographic problem in retail. Even well -running shops would often not find a successor. In order to break through this development, he would like to adapt the rental models. More sales -based rents are needed so that the shops can also pay them. The cities would have to be at their attractiveness. In addition, investments for companies would have to be worthwhile again, according to Preen: “And this requires incentives, specifically with a special depreciation option for investments. For example, I can imagine that investments in shopping, digitization, the renovation of facades, but also the installation of new heating and air conditioning technology could be taxed. After all, we cannot finance everything through public debt and state subsidies. ”
He also takes on politics when it comes to preventing Temu and Shein’s business practices. While EU companies are being urged to comply with high social standards, Chinese platforms could avoid them with impunity and thus have an unfair competitive advantage: “The EU has noticed this several times and now has to act urgently. At the moment you can only find a state failure.” He considers the SPD and CDU proposal to replace the daily maximum working time with a weekly maximum working time: “Our employees also want more flexibility. It would also be an important contribution to the compatibility of family and work. That would be a win-win situation. So I find that we have to be braver here. Especially since the proposal is EU law.”