After the corona pandemic, life has long since returned to German inner cities. But the enthusiasm of the people about the offer that they find there is limited. In a survey of almost 69,000 people in 111 inner cities published on Wednesday, the city centers only received school grades between two minus and three plus on average, as the Institute for Retail Research (IFH) reported on Wednesday.
The fact is that inner cities have a problem: According to data from the company Hystreet, which specializes in counting pedestrians, the number of visitors in most German shopping streets is still lower than before the corona pandemic.
“More people are coming to the city centers again, but not as many as before the pandemic – and this increase in customer frequency is not necessarily reflected in the tills of retailers,” said IFH Managing Director Boris Hedde of the German Press Agency .
Inner cities are losing shops
And that leaves traces. “We are currently losing an enormous number of stores,” said HDE general manager Stefan Genth recently. In 2022 alone, he estimates, around 16,000 shops will have closed their doors forever – a good three times as many as in a normal year. And it looks like this trend will continue in the new year.
“The range of shops is shrinking,” emphasized the HDE general manager. There are many medium-sized retailers who operate their boutiques, shoe shops, sports shops or perfumeries without a murmur. At the same time, many large chains are thinning out their branch networks not yet in the 1A locations, but you can see it in the districts of large cities, and you can see it above all in smaller and medium-sized towns and communities,” said Genth.
situation continues to worsen
And the situation could get even worse. Because in a representative survey by the consulting company Cima, the “Germany Study Downtown 2022”, 26 percent of those surveyed said they wanted to come to the city center less often in the future. Only ten percent wanted to visit the city more often. Four percent stated that they no longer came to the city center at all.
How bad the reputation of many inner cities is is perhaps best illustrated by a question that was asked for the first time as part of the IFH survey: “How likely is it that you would recommend this inner city to friends or acquaintances?” The answers were sobering. In about every second city, the majority of those who would not recommend the city center to others. Only every fourth city found visitors so attractive that they would recommend a visit to friends. “The fact is that the majority of German city centers, has more critics than convinced fans,” said Hedde. “We have to change that if we want to get more people into the inner cities again.”
Retail is the biggest magnet in the cities
According to the survey, the biggest magnet in inner cities is still retail. At least 60 percent of those surveyed stated that they had come to the city center to shop. But this crowd puller is losing its appeal. Young people up to the age of 25 come to the city much less frequently to shop than older people, and they are noticeably more critical of what is on offer there. According to the IFH study, the following also applies in general: people who also shop online – and that is at least three quarters of those surveyed – have returned to the city centers after Corona. But they shop there less often.
“Retail offering is important, but that alone is no longer enough. In the future, it will primarily be about the experience value of the inner cities, about ambience, flair and quality of stay,” says industry expert Hedde, summing up the result of the IFH survey. In fact, according to the study, more than one in three (35 percent) now come to the city for gastronomy For comparison: two years ago – at the peak of the corona pandemic – just one in four visitors to the city center was planning a visit to a restaurant or café.
“Trade concepts that are primarily geared towards product sales no longer work. In view of the overwhelming selection on the Internet, that’s not enough,” said Hedde. In order to survive in the future, personal interaction when shopping is important, the service concept, including advice and the combination of shopping and leisure activities. “And it shouldn’t only be commercial offers. It must also be possible to meet there without spending a lot of money in catering,” emphasized the expert.
In fact, city center visitors have clear ideas about what could make city centers more attractive: According to them, city centers should above all be places to meet and invite people to linger (45 percent). But also offers shopping (43 percent), art and culture (36 percent) and gastronomy (35 percent). Shopping in the city center is increasingly becoming a social event, and retailers have to take this into account – from the changing room to the catering area in the store, says Hedde. For him it is clear: “There must be a little more people in the inner cities.” (dpa)
Editor’s note: This post was updated at 10:55 am on February 8, 2023.