Competition from online shops, difficult parking situation in downtown Dorfen, concerns about succession: Ziegler hardware is closing.
An Edeka comes into the rooms.
Dorfen
- The hardware and tool shop Josef Ziegler "Zum Pollin" in Dorfen closes its doors forever.
There is a sale from May 2nd to 31st.
Then it's over forever.
After the Bachmayer brewery, one of the oldest family-run companies in Isenstadt is giving up this year.
This decision comes as a surprise to many, and they regret it even more.
But it was foreseeable, because none of the five children wanted to take over the business.
Owner Alfred Blüml is 64 years old.
He works 60 hours a week, including Saturdays.
You can also think about quitting, says his wife Annette and adds: "Maybe that's one reason why the children have all looked around for something else".
The Blümls have been looking for a tenant for the premises on Unteren Markt in Dorfen for a year and a half.
There were five interested parties.
Many chain stores applied, opticians and telephone companies.
However, it was important to the Blümls that it was taken over by a private provider who puts his heart and soul into his business.
The decision fell on a grocer: Edeka will open a shop there.
A grocery store has long been desired in the center of Dorfen, because the HZ-Markt closed in 2004 and the Penny in 2013. Now an agreement could be reached and the contract signed, reports Alfred Blüml, who trained as a wholesale and retail merchant in Rosenheim and did so in 1984 took over the business from his mother Irmgard.
The decision cost him a few sleepless nights, he admits.
The shop has 350 square meters of retail and storage space on the ground floor and first floor, staff room, kitchen, toilet and office for accounting.
It is ideal to be able to deliver from the front and from the back, says the owner, who is pleased that many of the shelves are to be used again by the tenant.
It's getting harder and harder to run retail stores, his wife explains.
“Competition from the internet, greenfield wholesale markets like Hagebau and Würth” is how she describes the current situation in the industry.
There are also many people who take 30 minutes to consult them and then buy the corresponding product for a few euros cheaper on the Internet.
People keep coming to have their devices repaired that they didn't buy in the store.
Added to this is the parking situation, which is getting worse and worse in Dorfen.
"And since the bridge was built, no one drives in anymore," notes Annette Blüml.
It has been much quieter in the store since Corona.
There used to be three employees in the shop, now there is often only one.
The 62-year-old criticizes that the city is also not making any efforts to support the long-established companies.
The next few weeks they will be busy with the sale.
"Everything must Go.
We only pass on the locking systems and the key service for our property management,” says Alfred Blüml.
26,000 articles are listed in his computer.
The range includes almost everything that do-it-yourselfers, craftsmen, garden and forest owners need: hardware, tools, machines, electrical, sanitary and garden supplies as well as forestry tools and of course connection technology, i.e. screws and dowels.
Service was a top priority at Ziegler and ranged from delivery, locksmith and sharpening services to repairs, machine rental and gas bottle replacement.
Many spare parts are still there that customers ordered but never picked up.
After the sale with various discounts, everything is cleared out for three weeks.
Edeka will move into the rooms from July.
The business was founded in 1860 by Blüml's great-great-grandfather Valentin, he says.
Great-grandfather Josef even ran a bank.
In the past there were also handicrafts, lingerie for women or cow chains and calf teats for the farmers and until the renovation in 1990 there were still fabrics, wool and buttons.
The 89-year-old senior boss Irmgard Blüml, who grew up in the business, worked in it until 2018 and still checks every day, regrets the decision, but understands it, says the daughter-in-law.
She herself works mainly in Erding, where the Blümls have opened the screw cellar specialist shop in the Altenerding-Südwest commercial area since 2006.
"In Erding we are set up completely differently, mainly delivery note trading for craftsmen and industry", which is less complex.
