I spent the afternoon in the Wiesbaden shopping district.
My secondary task while walking? Well...counting closed establishments. From end to end (including side-streets)....I counted around 25 empty 'fronts'.
One major store...which used to be a two-story sports shop? Well....it's just one floor active...the second story is empty.
A sign of the times? Well....I think there are just fewer people with ample cash in their pocket, and they are more careful now....than five years ago.
The one oddity among new shops? There's a Cin-a-bun-like shop that opened. My impression...some partnership with a Turkish baker, and they painted up a new shop....bright lights, and big huge display to attract people to the front-window.
Germans are typically NOT sugar freaks, and the US Cin-a-bun stuff....doesn't typically appeal to folks.
2 comments:
Funnily enough during my walks I also have surveyed the Wiesbaden pedestrian zone. I counted 11 opticians, plus 4 more off the side streets. Is German eyesight so bad, or are the profits so high selling glasses?
You know, this is a valid point. Before Covid, I would imagine on Opticians...there were a dozen shops on the single shopping district, and probably similar numbers on cellphone shops. My take? Germans, if you bring up the subject...have at least three pairs of glasses (sunglasses, up-close reading glasses/tri-focal, and driving glasses).
But since Covid...just a high number of shut-downs. A couple of Turk 'sweet-shops' came.....and went. High-end clothing shops? Couple came and went. New ice cream shop (like we already had three or four). All the talk of the 'passage' renovation? Nothing much has come. The talk of the Big-Apple disco coming back? BS. My favorite juice shop....'Saft of the Erde'? Went down, and some 'lounge' opened up there.
Post a Comment