Cosmetics chain based in Bonn Vollmar sells nine of its 15 stores

Bonn · Martin Hergarten, owner of the perfume and cosmetics chain Vollmar, is selling off two-thirds of his stores. The 62-year-old plans to retire in a couple years and his sons were not interested in taking over the family business.

"I still feel like expanding," Martin Hergarten told the General-Anzeiger in summer of 2010. But now there will be no more growth in the company because his two sons aren’t interested in entering the business. Hergarten will concentrate on five stores, including the one he runs on Sternstrasse with its 18th-century baroque interior. He sold nine stores to the Becker perfumery and cosmetics business based in Neuss, as he confirmed to General-Anzeiger on Friday. Another store in Schleiden in the Eifel region is to be closed.

"I'm going from full throttle into fourth gear," said Hergarten, from the third generation of a family that have owned and operated Vollmar. He has been in charge since 1983. "I'd rather act than react. It's better to quietly and politely hand over the business than to make a mess of it later." Hergarten is 62 and he wants to retire in two years. His selling the business means handing it down to a new generation because the buyer, Willi Becker, is 25 years younger.

The Becker perfume and cosmetics company also has a long tradition. It was founded in 1897 in Neuss, the current managing director is the great-grandson of the founder. With around 80 stores total in the future, Becker will be one of the largest owner-managed perfumery and cosmetics companies in Germany. He already has branches in Duisdorf and Beuel, and will now take over the stores of Vollmar in Poppelsdorf, Oberkassel and Plittersdorf.

Vollmar retains 40 employees

In addition to the flagship store, Vollmar will retain the branch at Kaiserplatz and Vollmar Secrets, which Hergarten's wife Gabriele manages and which has a wide range of fancy lace lingerie for women as well as classic lingerie. Outside of Bonn, Hergarten will keep the stores in Bad Münstereifel and Linz am Rhein. Nothing will change for the employees. "The staff stays where they are. That is a normal transfer of business", Hergarten explained. Vollmar will retain 40 employees, Becker will take over about 70 employees.

Hergarten credits the longevity of Vollmar on the Bonn market to a humane atmosphere in its stores and a successful balancing act between modern and traditional. One can see it in the woodcarvings which Hergarten’s mother, the former business owner Gertrud Hergarten-Vollmar, insisted stay a part of the flagship store even though consultants pushed for a trendier interior design.

No online shop

Hergarten, who has a degree in business administration, had kicked around the idea for an online shop but decided against it, deeming the effort and risk to be too much. Instead, he opened Loft8 last year, which opens onto Friedrichstrasse and is connected to the main store on Sternstrasse. There, customers can try out the major international make-up brands in a hall-like shop, there are make-up demonstrations and jazz concerts, and customers can buy drinks at a bar.

Becker’s plans for the Vollmar properties were unclear as he was not available for comment on Friday. According to Hergarten, Becker will take over the branches in Erftstadt-Lechenich, Ahrweiler, Bornheim, Remagen, Mechernich and Niederkassel outside Bonn. Orig. text: Ulla Thiede Translation: Carol Kloeppel

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