No chance against online trading: The baby paradise has to close
Created: 09/07/2022Updated: 09/07/2022 8:52 PM
By: Doris Schmid
Everything must go: Managing Director Karin Macher grants a 40 percent discount on textiles.
© Doris Schmid
Clearance sale in baby paradise: Karin Macher has to close her specialist shop in Geretsried.
Circumstances force them to do so.
Geretsried – pacifiers, rompers, cuddle cloths: a specialist shop on Jeschkenstrasse has been selling items for toddlers for 30 years.
But that will be over by the end of the year at the latest.
The clearance sale has been going on in Karin Macher's baby paradise for a good week.
"It's good to draw a line," says the 59-year-old when asked by our newspaper.
"Maybe I should have done that sooner."
After the closure of the Isartal Baby Center ten years ago, the former employees Karin Macher and Hanna Baur took the plunge into self-employment.
At the same place they opened the baby paradise.
At that time, the women put a lot of money, time and attention to detail into the renovation work.
The business developed, and the year 2017 was closed with the best figures ever, reports Macher.
Then sales dropped: People were ordering more and more online, according to the businesswoman, who has been running the shop alone since 2019.
I already imagined doing this until I retired.
Businesswoman Karin Macher
The corona pandemic added to the difficult economic situation.
In the first lockdown, Macher also had to close her shop.
She kept in touch with her customers and delivered goods via video calls.
During the second lockdown, the Wolfratshauser was allowed to open her shop.
"But that was such a mess where nobody went shopping," she says, referring to the corona restrictions, which kept changing.
The business shifted even more to the Internet.
"It went downhill from there." At the beginning of the year, the 59-year-old tried to turn things around by offering her goods on the portals of four major online retailers.
That didn't help either.
Geretsried: Baby paradise has to close - business woman feels abandoned
As a small specialist retailer, Macher feels abandoned: on the one hand by the government, on the other hand by large suppliers.
"A drop in sales due to Corona is no reason to get an application for short-time work through," she gives as an example.
At certain companies, you used to be good enough to help build a brand.
That doesn't count anymore.
In her experience, the online trade is the first to be supplied with goods, followed by retail chains.
"With luck, there will still be something left for the specialist trade." In some cases, she only received textiles two months late.
Macher doesn't even want to talk about the extravagant range of child seats and the like at discounters.
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Geretsried: Baby paradise has to close - the lease has been terminated
Now the businesswoman pulls the ripcord for herself and her team.
The lease has been terminated and the sale is ongoing.
Everything has to go – including the shop fittings.
She gives up her business with mixed feelings.
"I already imagined doing this until I retired," admits the entrepreneur.
The thought of closing the shop was not easy for her at first.
Now there is some relief.
"Times aren't getting any better," she says, and once again addresses the corona pandemic and the energy crisis.
Read the latest news from Geretsried here.
Macher hopes to find a job after winding up her store.
Her saleswomen, who have long since become friends, will also have to look for another job.
"I wouldn't have made it without my girls," says Macher.
"They're just great."
Nej
Also read: Corona has changed too much: Landlady from Wolfratshausen closes her café