After 22 years: farewell to the gas station with a heart

Created: 02/01/2022 05:17

By: Charlotte Borst

Made their customers' visits pleasant: Matthias and Claudia Gebhard say hello.

© Gerald Fortsch

It's over after 22 years: The tenant couple Gebhard say goodbye to "their" gas station in Unterschleißheim, which was always more than petrol pumps and coffee-to-go.

Unterschleißheim

– The petrol station on Dieselstraße in Unterschleißheim is a meeting place a thousand times a day.

If only for a few moments.

Claudia and Matthias Gebhard worked for 22 years to ensure that even fleeting contacts were positive.

Now the couple says goodbye to “his” Allguth petrol station – with a heavy heart.

"Everyone comes to us.

The engineer and the prostitute, old people and small children”, Matthias Gebhard is a little wistful, “we will miss the customers.” He looks back on exciting, successful, instructive and happy years, he says.

Even if it was sometimes exhausting.

"Stroking the buttered pretzels at five in the morning, or tidying up and locking everything up at half past ten in the evening, whether it's a Monday, Sunday or public holiday." In the midst of the comings and goings of customers, the 52-year-old is on the run between the office, bakery and Cashbox.

All antennas are set to receive, the phone in your pocket or on your ear.

Five minutes is enough to forget the stress of everyday life

Always present and helpful. Satisfied customers were what drove him, he says. And the difficult contemporaries? "They were blissful." Aggression and stress apparently bounced off Matthias Gebhard's stature and his friendly eyes as if of their own accord. "It happens that customers are irritable," he says, "but it's rare that people insult my employees and I've had to throw them out, less than five times in all those years."

At the bakery counter, a truck driver stirs the sugar into a cappuccino and takes a break.

Here everyone can rest between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. and then continue on their way.

Five minutes is often enough to forget the stress of everyday life.

1800 to 2000 customers come daily.

Over the years, the Gebhards have built up many friendly contacts with regular customers, suppliers and neighbors, who were made to feel welcome over a good cup of coffee.

"Where are they supposed to go?"

During the pandemic, the gas station has also become a meeting place, especially for young people.

“Where should they go?” Matthias Gebhard asks, “they meet up, clean their cars for five hours and drink Red Bull.” He got along well with the boys.

"Unterschleißheim is a town, but the attitude towards life is like in a village."

Claudia Gebhard usually stands at the checkout and knows what the regular customers want - and the children were allowed to choose a toy from a box, a Lego figure, a car or a whistle. In 2002 she took on a temporary job at the gas station. At that time she was studying sports and educational sciences. After graduation she became co-boss, wife and mother of two sons. Matthias Gebhard's curriculum vitae includes training as a car mechanic and another as an IT specialist.

After 22 years, the head of the 10,000 square meter branch has handed over the keys to the site.

"Unfortunately, we part ways," he takes a deep breath.

He was unable to reach an agreement with the Allguth Group on a new lease agreement.

The Gebhards have drawn the consequences and incorporated their successor.

“We now have half a year to take a break,” says Gebhard.

New challenges await.

What they look like is yet to be decided.

Looking back, the two are simply proud of what they have built with their employees.

More news from Unterschleißheim and the district of Munich can be found here.