Retailers in bamberg disagree on closing times
Three women, one opinion: shopping on sundays is out of the question for them. And they didn't need opening hours after 6 p.M., said traudl hartmann (60), barbara fiedler (53) and pensioner agnes s., which we addressed in the morning in the fubganger zone. For the recurring demand for a relaxation of the store closing time they show no understanding.
Fiedler, who travels a lot as a guest driver, formulates her point of view as follows: "people also have to get some rest once in a while." Hartmann, a teacher and school psychologist, says she doesn't go shopping on sundays because the day is "sacred to her, and not just in a religious sense.". As agnes S. She thinks that the predominantly female employees should also be considered; they were the ones who suffered.
The three bamberger women were not allowed to use the second open sunday, which is demanded by the city marketing association. He preferred to have four, as allowed by law. But the decision is up to the municipal bodies. And the city council has so far rejected all proposals by a majority.
On the other hand, oberburg mayor andreas starke (SPD) says he has been "instrumental in strengthening the city center" a further sales open sunday favorably. Because he knows "that many individual traders would like to be treated equally when it comes to setting sales open sundays. What is possible in the surrounding area is what retailers are striving for in the city as well." An example: hirschaid offers three opportunities for sunday shopping – twice in the whole market town, plus in august in the industrial area.
Since 1997, bamberger businesses have been allowed to open their stores on the first sunday after the start of the autumn plarrer. This was last seen on 4. October the fall. According to city marketing chairman alfons distler, it was once again a complete success. He sees the popularity as proof that there is a need for more open sundays. Claus hofmann, governor of the bavarian retail association, also wanted less strict regulations for sundays. He asks: "why are there different rules for the gastronomy than for the trade??"
If you look around at smaller stores, the enthusiasm for open sundays is not great. "It is not worth it", brigitte groh, who runs a hosiery shop in hauptwachstrabe, is quite frank. She also thinks nothing of extending the opening hours. After 5 pm there is not much going on, which is why she usually closes at 6 pm. The employee emphasizes that this does not mean that they are inflexible and refers to the customer information in the shop window. "If necessary, we are open on all days longer – up to the local times" stands on it. This pragmatic approach is a good idea. Asked if there was ever a need for 8 p.M., the store manager replied: "not even in the christmas business!" She finds it "interesting, that in bamberg there are always calls for the liberalization of the closing time of stores, although the existing possibilities are hardly exhausted.
Apart from grocery stores, only one store in the city center is open until 8 pm: C&A. It would not be done if it was not profitable, emphasizes branch manager bernd lammel.
The karstadt department store, on the other hand, where city marketing chairman distler has the say, is "already" doing something at 7 p.M. According to him, a general extension to 8 p.M. Is currently being tested. For december it is firmly planned. Distler is sure that consumers will use the hour more in the pre-christmas season. The city marketing chairman again has high expectations for the bamberger shopping night. The next one is scheduled for 4. December be. Distler speaks of the strongest sales day of the year.
This may be true for large houses, but by no means for the retail trade as a whole, we hear during our research in various small businesses. One store manager describes in particularly drastic terms how she remembers the last shopping night: "drunk, vomiting, spilled gluhwein" – ringing tills, my ass. The woman did not want her name to be published because she did not want to get into trouble with the supporters of the law.
How do people who often work nights and weekends in other industries view the recurring debates about closing time?? For martina pebler of the hofbrau restaurant, it is "no problem", to work when others have the day off. But that is a "very individual thing" and depending on the family situation, she finds. Police press officer klaus linsner speaks out clearly against further relaxation "precisely because i know what it's like to have to work at weekends and at night".
In search of advocates of liberalization, we deliberately approach three young women. No way: the female students, each 24 years old, are also happy with the way things are in bamberg. Even open sundays do not appeal to them. "Too full" be it to them there.
The city's press officer, ulrike siebenhaar, speaks of a "highly emotional" event topic and a "sore point with many. What makes it so difficult to find a solution that everyone can live with is that there are no clear fronts. Even in church circles, he says, there are people who accept sunday sales because they begin after church services.
The official statement of church representatives is clear and negative. For pastor matthias wunsche, acting catholic dean of bamberg, it is ultimately a question of values: "how important is the possibility of unlimited consumption and the priority of the liberal economy versus the protection of social structures and the demand for non-commercial and non-consumer-oriented components of human life??" A calibration would be unilaterally detrimental to the employees, his protestant colleague otfried sperl fears. He sees "the danger that man's right to one day of rest per week, which is laid down in god's order of creation, will fall prey to total arbitrariness."
And although the retail trade looks enviously at the county, its "boss" is, district administrator gunther denzler, a supporter of the existing law on the closing of stores. He, too, fears that a relaxation would be to the detriment of employees, families and voluntary work.
