A piece of Munich is dying here: Sad employees light candles in front of the closed Kaut-Bullinger Gate

Created: 02/20/2022, 20:53

Sad faces: Sieglinde Kühnlein, Felix Gass and colleagues lit candles in front of the finally locked gate.

© Markus Goetzfried

After almost 230 years of company history, the Kaut-Bullinger head office in the heart of Munich is closing.

Saturday was the stationery giant's last day of sales.

About the end of an era.

With tears in their eyes, Sieglinde Kühnlein and Felix Gass are standing in front of the shop where they have loved working for so long.

She and her colleagues lit grave candles, which continued to flicker on Saturday long after the gate closed one last time.

It really felt like a death: Kaut-Bullinger, one of Munich's oldest* traditional shops, is no more.

Munich: Kaut-Bullinger employees mourn

On Saturday, the last customers were still eagerly cavorting on Rosenstrasse near Marienplatz*.

Just like Heidrun Richter-Simmet, who has known the business since childhood.

"We always got good advice," she says.

She also bought a fountain pen.

A souvenir, she says.

There isn't much left.

The noble glass showcases with the shiny fillers are empty.

Without the brightly colored pencils, paints and paper, the art supplies shop looks desolate and bare.

Hardly a shelf is still full.

Everything is sold, even the furniture.

Floor manager Willy Holzapfel was in his department for the last time on Saturday.

© Markus Goetzfried

At 7 p.m., not at 6 p.m. as planned, the doors will finally be closed.

"We spontaneously extended," says Managing Director Robert Brech.

"We wouldn't have gotten everyone out on time."

Kaut-Bullinger floor manager Willy Holzapfel: "Munich is getting poorer"

The company has existed since 1794.

The branch on Rosenstraße was opened in 1969.

"In two years we would have celebrated our 230th anniversary," says Robert Brech.

"Munich is getting poorer," regrets Willy Holzapfel, floor manager for office technology and EDP accessories.

"Again, a traditional business is dying in Munich." On the last day, too, he is on duty on the lower floor.

There, where he has worked for the last 40 years, between printer paper and color cartridges.

“I can't believe that today is the last day.” He did his apprenticeship here when he was 15, now he's 60. “I grew up here.

I was here five or six times a week.” He is interrupted by a customer: “Excuse me, why are you closing?” she asks.

“There are many reasons for this,” says Holzapfel.

Sad Kaut-Bullinger employees: They lit candles in front of the gate that is now forever locked.

© Markus Goetzfried

"I can't believe today is the last day"

Managing Director Brech reports more: "After Corona, we decided that things couldn't go on like this.

We had to pull the ripcord.” Three years ago there were still 13 shops in the city centre.

The parent company on Rosenstraße was the last remaining branch.

"We had difficulties before that," says Brech.

"Corona was the fire accelerator." The wholesale trade in Taufkirchen will remain.

"We're disappearing from retail, but it's going on."

Everyone agrees: the five-story headquarters on Rosenstrasse was something special.

"If something wasn't available anywhere, you found it here." Saleswoman Monika Forster is visibly depressed.

For 42 years, the 62-year-old drove an hour a day from Mühldorf to Munich – changing jobs was never an option.

"It was a good time." Like her, many now have to look for a new job.

Brigitte Rost (64) is retiring after 22 years.

She will miss her colleagues.

"We were like family."

It is still unclear what buyer and multi-billionaire René Benko intends to do with the building.

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