“Cleaning sale! Business task! Everything has to go out!” The North German dealer Schuhplus is currently advertising discount campaigns at its two locations in Dörverden and Sedelsberg. The two shops will close at the end of the year. “We look back on a great time. For us, the moment has come to say: If you are good,” says Schuhplus Managing Director Kay Zimmer to Schuhkurier. And added: the circumstances in the market would be more difficult. Not all brands are available for shoe retail today. Oversizes often disappeared due to the change of licenses for brands and there were sometimes considerable price increases. Last but not least, two own brands, Mavins and Lady Pepp, were launched last year.
In addition, the building of the company headquarters in Dörverden was sold two years ago. The new owner wants to build a completely new building complex there. In order to build a new headquarters, you have to invest large sums now, said Kay Zimmer. If the project were finally realized, it would be in his mid -50s – “And the question arises whether you can still trust yourself such a project.”
According to the managing director, talks are currently underway with interested parties to put the Schuhplus brand into new hands with its own brands Lady Pepp and Mavins. “We will find a way that Schuhplus continues to exist as an online brand,” the entrepreneur is convinced. You want a clean and tidy transition. Socially compatible solutions have been found for the eleven employees, emphasizes Kay Zimmer. The suppliers concerned were informed about the decision to close Schuhplus.
It was still ordered for the autumn/winter season; The warehouse is well filled. With strong discounts, customers can stock up on oversized shoes in the two shops. The location in Dörverden has a sales area of 1,100 sqm. The shop in Sedelsberg on C-Port Saterland offers shoes on an area of 800 sqm.
Schuhplus was founded in 2004 – with a sales area of 12 square meters. The basis of the business model was initially inpatient trade and very early on an online shop for shoes in oversize. The team around managing director Kay Zimmer occupied a niche. The company grew quickly, even beyond the region in northern Germany. With shopping TV and various formats on social media channels, the niche dealer increased its reach. This was to help the company, which was awarded the Schuhkurier Award in 2019, in Corona pandemic: in 2020, Schuhplus was able to increase its sales by 10 %. Inpatient Schuhplus also expanded its network. In 2021, numerous shops were opened all over Germany. The management communicated ambitious expansion goals. However, the locations were gradually closed again in the following years. At the same time, the company expanded its range by shoes in normal sizes. For 2023, the Northdata portal for Schuhplus has a total of EUR 3.9 million. According to Kay Zimmer, sales included around 3 million euros last year.
Rooms and his business partner Georg Mahn have already forged concrete plans for the time after Schuhplus. You want to build a media company that supports companies in becoming more visible on social media channels. The experiences from 20 years of shoe plus should also help. Some of the Schuhplus employees are transferred to the new company.
The shoe trading company has reached more than 14 million contacts every month, Zimmer to Schuhkurier. At the same time, the association funding that Schuhplus started years ago is to continue. The headquarters for the media company is being built at the Saterland location, whose buildings are owned. A TV studio is also being built there. With the non -profit project “Trude Kuh”, clubs are to be presented in videos. The project is financed through advertising. Trude Kuh is not just a name, but a brown-white spotted mascot, which can also be purchased as a plush toy. There are already hundreds of pre -orders, according to Kay Zimmer.
