Because of the pandemic and the war, customers stayed away from the Brucker Africa store.
The clearance sale is on.
Fürstenfeldbruck - Fine fruit juices, groceries, wood and other art work and of course espresso and coffee - all produced fairly from Togo: The PiT-Togohilfe campaign opened its Africa shop on the Viehmarktplatz with these products three years ago.
But the corona pandemic and energy crisis are now breaking the neck of the small business.
The clearance sale is running, the doors will finally close in mid-February.
Too little turnover
"We have too little turnover and too few customers," reports owner Andy Kopp, son of the club's founder Margret Kopp.
After the opening in autumn 2019, things went well at first.
But then the corona pandemic came and the Africa shop was also closed for months.
"I had to start all over again," says Kopp.
In order to make up for the loss, sales would have had to be significantly higher.
Customers came, but not enough.
Then there was the energy crisis and the economic impact of the war in Ukraine.
"They're more of a luxury product that you get from us," says Kopp.
Although people would like to drink the great juices from Togo.
"But they also say that they are most likely to do without these products." This means that sales went down even further, it was no longer enough.
(
By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular
FFB newsletter.)
Very sad
So Andy Kopp decided to close the shop and is sad about it.
"There's a lot of heart and soul in it, it was fun." The sale with discounts runs until mid-February.
Then it's finally over.
Kopp is not sure whether he will try again in better times.
"It's not quite dead in my head yet.
The company Togo-Contact, which offers trips to Togo and provides economic aid, will remain in existence, as will the Togohilfe association.
Both move to a smaller office at Am Kugelfang 45.
And the Bruckers can continue to drink the Togo coffee.
It can be ordered via the website www.togo-contact.de.
You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.