Family property since 1912: Traditional dealer in Wolfratshausen has to close - "cannot go on any longer"

Created: 08/10/2022, 17:12

By: Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

At the beginning of September, Susanne Drechsel closed her parents' shop with a heavy heart.

For more than 60 years, the Michlbauer shop was the top address for household goods and picture framing.

© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

One of the oldest traditional shops on the Obermarkt is closing.

The family business has existed since 1912 - it has been called "Michlbauer" for over 60 years.

Wolfratshausen – For more than six decades, the shop at Obermarkt 37 was the first address for the Wolfratshausen residents when it came to household goods and picture framing.

It ends at the beginning of September.

The traditional shop Rudolf Michlbauer is closed forever.

Since 1912: traditional dealer in Wolfratshausen has to close - "can't go any further"

"It's no longer possible for health and economic reasons," says daughter Susanne Drechsel, who has taken care of the business since the death of her parents - Rudolf Michlbauer died in 2019, wife Inge a year later.

In recent years it has become increasingly difficult.

The corona restrictions and the change in customer behavior, away from stationary to online trading, have not made the situation any easier - on the contrary.

Too much competition in online trading: Traditional business is closing forever

The striking house opposite the Schwankl-Eck has been in the family for a long time.

In 1912, the great-grandparents Susanna and Thomas Breitsamer bought it and set up a household goods store with a glazing workshop.

When her husband died in 1933 at the age of 49, the young widow continued to run the company on her own.

Granddaughter Inge, who grew up here with her grandmother, did an apprenticeship as a retail clerk and then worked in the shop.

Der Michlbauer: What will become of the building is unclear.

© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

In 1959 she met Rudolf Michlbauer from Altötting, a trained glazier and showcase builder.

The couple married in 1961 and took over the business after the death of their grandmother.

The glazier's workshop was converted into a picture framing shop.

The frame was her husband's great hobby, Inge Michlbauer once said.

"He wowed everyone with his passion."

Michlbauer in Wolfratshausen closes: Generations of Wolfratshausen residents shopped here

"The shop was downstairs," says Susanne Drechsel, describing her parents' business, "upstairs were the workshop and the apartment." The business flourished under the hard-working hands of the couple.

The shop windows featured the latest household products and gadgets, pressure cookers of all sizes, crockery and cutlery.

The Michlbauers also offered a sharpening and repair service for scissors and knives.

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The customers valued the competent service in terms of advice and Rudolf Michlbauer's craftsmanship.

In the mid-1980s, the businesswoman took over the chair of the advertising group for the shopping city of Wolfratshausen, which had been founded ten years earlier.

This had set itself the task of promoting and strengthening local trade and commerce through suitable advertising.

But times have changed.

The increasing ordering on the Internet took its toll.

"Business was becoming increasingly difficult," says Susanne Drechsel.

Family business gives up: “It just doesn’t go any further”

But after the death of her husband, Inge Michlbauer continued to run the business together with her daughter Susanne, despite being over 80 years old.

“Now it just doesn’t go any further,” says Drechsel.

She associates memories with the house and the shop that are similar to those of her mother.

The apartment above the shop was her home, here she grew up with her sister Monika and later did an apprenticeship as a retail clerk in the family business.

How the store and the building will continue is unclear.

"A decision has not yet been made."

info

The opening hours remain the same until the business closes: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.