End of an era: Munich company closes after 83 years - problems become too big
Created: 05/28/2022, 04:49 am
By: Nadja Hoffmann
Martin Buchner in the warehouse: His company has everything that plumbers need - for everything to do with pipes.
© Marcus sleep
The current burden is becoming too great for a long-established specialist company in Munich: The company, which has been a specialist address for craftsmen for 83 years, is now drawing a line.
Martin Buchner knows the headlines that make hearts bleed in Munich: whenever a traditional company closes its doors forever.
Just like Kaut-Bullinger on Sendlinger Strasse in March.
And just as it will be with him now... "We're not among the really big ones," says Buchner.
But he knows: his family's business was big in Sendling.
Wholesalers for sanitary supplies have belonged to Kidlerstrasse for 83 years.
Pipes, siphons and everything that goes with them: Thousands of parts of this type are stored on the shelves here. But now the craft businesses in the south of Munich have to find another partner.
"Valentin Brunhuber GmbH will end its commercial transactions on June 30, 2022," says a letter that Buchner sent to its customers.
Munich: General conditions are becoming too difficult for the specialist company
In it, the 51-year-old recalls how his grandfather founded the business in 1939 and ran it until he was 92.
His daughter, Martin Buchner's mother Christa, took over the company until the pandemic.
Now the Sendlinger was faced with perhaps the most difficult question of his life.
Because: The decision to give up the business was not about money.
"We don't do it out of economic necessity," emphasizes Buchner.
But because of the difficult framework conditions.
Buchner names a whole list: shortage of skilled workers, lack of young people, disruptions in the logistics chains, price increases, inflation.
Then there is the online market.
"All of these developments are taking away the margins that we need as a specialist wholesaler with well-founded consulting services in order to be able to continue offering our service in the long term."
The family deliberated for a long time.
In the end, the decision was made not to pass the business on to the next generation.
Instead, Buchner will increasingly contribute his knowledge and company space to the IGH purchasing association, which is formed by family-run wholesalers across Europe.
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