For the Heilbronn traditional fashion house Palm, 2023 ends with the announcement that it will be going out of business after over two hundred years.
The Palm fashion house will have to close its doors on June 30, 2024 after a total of 2,020 years, confirmed managing director Axel Palm when asked by FashionUnited. The fashion house previously announced the impending closure on social networks.
Neither the shareholders nor the management of the fashion house see the possibility of successfully continuing the traditional business, which has existed since 1804, in the future, but liquidity is secured – even without a loan – until the end of June 2024. The Palm family, who own it, sees the reason for the end of the traditional store in particular in the competition from online retail, but also in the lack of attractiveness of Heilbronn’s city center.
“Many retail stores have had to close over the past ten years and failed to breathe new attractiveness into the city center,” said managing partner Wolfgang Palm. “The vacancy of the Wollhaus Center for over ten years – whose opening in 2028 will come too late – as well as the public image of the city center have led to a massive loss of footfall with a corresponding loss of sales.”
Added to this is the shortage of skilled workers and the “glaring difficulty of recruiting employees for the working hours that are essential in retail”. The current employees of the fashion house were informed on Friday about the impending closure and the resulting layoffs. According to the statement, the employees, most of whom have been employed for very long years, will be supported as best as possible in their search for new employers. Until then, we will once again “demonstrate to customers what Palm is all about”.