Generation change in the drugstore: Christoph Werner is now the sole dm boss at

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On target: Christoph Werner

 is now leading dm from the front.

Photo: Patrick Junker / laif

When the longtime dm boss

(58) left Germany's largest drugstore chain head over heels in the late summer of last year, the founder

(76) didn't have to look long for a successor.

A phone call in South Africa was enough.

His son

(47), who had previously acted as a simple board member, was on

vacation

there.

Some claim that he longed for this conversation.

In any case, the chance to prove oneself could not have been greater.

No sooner was Werner junior in office than he had to steer dm through the crisis.

Delivery bottlenecks, queues in front of the markets, irritable customers: "If everything goes smoothly, it's easy to lose sight of how many individual contributions are necessary," says the polite man.

"The commitment of our employees made me grateful and humble."

The wages are likely to be reflected in sales, even if Werner tries to dispel this impression.

As a beneficiary of the crisis to boot through the same, because dm was allowed to supply the population with disinfectants and toilet paper, while numerous other dealers had to close - not a nice image to start with.

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