No Christmas markets in Bavaria: traditional company shows how hard Corona really hits you

Gingerbread, mulled wine or Christmas decorations.

The manufacturers are currently in high season.

However, Christmas markets have been canceled due to the corona.

The damage goes into the millions.

Nuremberg * - Instead of going to the

Christmas market

, you drink

mulled wine

at home.

During the Advent season, many Nuremberg residents and tourists from Bavaria and around the world usually cavort in Nuremberg's old town. * The famous

Christmas market

attracts

more than two million people

every year.

But not this year - due to the still high Corona * numbers, a partial lockdown applies in Germany, Christmas markets have been canceled.

The manufacturers of mulled wine, pastries and jewelry fear for their business.

Nuremberg: Corona hits gingerbread bakeries hard - "What is even worse for us ..."

You can

buy

real

gingerbread

from Nuremberg all year round, but the gingerbread factories make their main turnover in the Advent season.

The fact that Christmas markets have to be canceled is a hard blow for companies.

“What is even worse for us is the emotional component.

The Christmas spirit is simply missing, ”says Jürgen Brandstetter, Managing Director of Lebkuchen-Schmidt.

The

traditional company is

clearly

feeling this

in its 140 branches throughout Germany.

Brandstetter expects a drop in sales in the low seven-digit range there.

“Customers are more cautious.

We feel that fewer people are out and about in the city centers, ”says Brandstetter.

Nuremberg on the main market.

Tuesday in Advent, 6:30 p.m.

Usually crammed full around this time for the Christkindlesmarkt.

Now almost no one is on the move.

Spooky ... pic.twitter.com/vusMEzM33Q

- Sinatrine (@sinatrine) December 8, 2020

No Christmas markets due to corona: "We work around the clock in shipping - even at night"

In contrast, sales over the Internet or the order hotline rose by leaps and bounds.

"We work

around the clock

in the

shipping department

- even at night, which we didn't have in previous years to cope with." Now Brandstetter hopes that the mail order business can compensate for the drop in sales in the shops.

The Printen bakers in Aachen feel the same way.

The Aachen Christmas market alone attracts 1.5 million people every year, who buy the brown gingerbread at the stalls and in the bakeries in the city center.

Now many have had these sent to them instead, says Michael Nobis, owner of the

traditional Nobis Printen bakery

.

"Many customers are currently ordering their prints via the online shop and by phone."

Mulled wine manufacturers suffer from the cancellation of the Christmas market due to Corona

For mulled wine manufacturers, on the other hand, it could be difficult to compensate for the lost income from the Christmas markets.

“When you think about what people

drink

at the more than

1000 Christmas markets in Germany

,” says Ernst Büscher from the German Wine Institute in Bodenheim near Mainz.

Some manufacturers have started to offer their mulled wine in 0.75 liter bottles.

But even if consumers drink more mulled wine than usual at home, that would probably not match the quantities at the Christmas markets, says Büscher.

“Also because of the

contact restrictions

.” Happy mulled wine rounds with friends and neighbors are therefore not possible this year.

Video: No Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg: Christkind in the home office

Traditional Franconian company suffers from Corona: "Sales loss runs into the millions"

The 300 employees on short-time work, many seasonal workers unemployed - for

Käthe Wohlfahrt

the Advent season is bitter this year.

The Central Franconian Christmas decorations supplier is normally represented at 60 Christmas markets throughout Germany.

Hundreds of helpers let the number of employees rise to 1200 in those weeks.

"None of them could be hired this year," says spokeswoman Felicitas Höptner.

In the months of November and December, the family business from

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

actually does its main business.

This year, however, sales are expected to decline by 90 percent in the two months compared to the same period last year.

"The loss of sales runs into the millions," says Höptner.

The 80 percent increase in online sales cannot even begin to compensate for this.

Käthe Wohlfart Pop-Up Store: "The customers who come spend more money"

After the cancellation of the Christmas markets, Käthe Wohlfahrt opened two pop-up Christmas shops in Cologne and Hamburg at short notice in addition to the existing shops.

“The customers who come spend more money,” says Höptner.

But because fewer people are allowed into the shops because of the distance rules, the bottom line is that this does not bring more income.

But not only the manufacturers of pastries, jewelry and mulled wine are suffering from the cancellation of the Christmas markets.

The

hotels, bars, shops, museums and thus the city itself also benefit

from the large number of

tourists that the

Nuremberg Christmas Market

attracts,

for example

the city of Nuremberg.

Christmas markets canceled due to Corona: digital markets are supposed to alleviate hardship

She cannot say how much the stand operators are doing at the Christkindlesmarkt.

For them, however, the rejection is a bitter blow, says Beeck.

Digital Christmas markets in Nuremberg, Munich and many other cities should at least alleviate their misery a little.

You can buy everything there that is traditionally available at the Christmas markets - but the atmospheric light and the appetizing scents are missing.

(kam / dpa) * Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen digital editorial network.

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You can always read all the news about the corona virus in Nuremberg and throughout Bavaria with us.