On the upper floors, workmen are busy: next year, the textile retailer Peek & Cloppenburg wants to move in. This is a family-run fashion company with headquarters in Düsseldorf and Vienna that was founded in 1900 and primarily offers higher-quality fashion. However, Peek & Cloppenburg will only use the ground floor and the first and second floors. What will happen to the third and fourth floors is still up in the air. A cultural use is being discussed.

As reported, one of the topics under discussion was a possible move-in of the city museum. It is currently housed more or less stepmotherly in the former administrative wing of the Viktoriabad, which closed in 2010, on Franziskanerstraße in the city centre. The city council has been debating for a long time where it can find a new home after the implementation of the plans for the Viktoriakarree has begun. However, a move to the old Karstadt building is not going to happen: "In the first half of the year, there were talks with the landlord of the property, but they have been terminated in the meantime. It was not a viable option for the City Museum," said Isabel Klotz from the municipal press office when asked by our editorial team. Nothing more could be learned about the current status of the future of the City Museum.

Therese Thrun, meanwhile, is worried about many of her former colleagues: "I know that many have not yet found a new job," she says. Thrun herself is also registered as unemployed. "Of course it is difficult for me to find a job like the one I had at Karstadt." Thrun was in charge of the ground floor departments there for a long time, she says. However, she counts herself among the "lucky ones" who have paid into the pension for 45 years and will therefore soon be able to retire without deductions. With a dog and a large garden, she will not be bored.

Other colleagues, on the other hand, are now afraid of slipping into Hartz IV unemployment: "That's a disaster." She is glad that some of her colleagues have been given adequate jobs at Karstadt Galeria Kaufhof on Münsterplatz. She knows from her colleagues with whom she is still in regular contact that they feel good there. Incidentally, as reported, the department stores' is soon to be given a new name and will then only be called Galeria.

Next year, when the pandemic is perhaps over, there is to be a reunion with all former Karstadt employees. "We really had a good time at Karstadt," she says on the phone, sounding thoughtful. "That's what I told everyone back then, who always had something to complain about because they didn't appreciate how good they had it at Karstadt."

Meanwhile, according to Sonja Nees, spokesperson of Aachener Grundvermögen, the owner of the Karstadt building, the demolition work from the ground floor to the first floor of the Karstadt building has been successfully completed - except for some remaining work as well as the remediation of pollutants. At the same time, the conversion is already being prepared and the structural work for the building services has begun in the basement. "With regard to the future use of the upper floors, we hope to be able to conclude an agreement for future cultural use before the end of the year. We will be happy to inform the press when something is ready to be announced," Nees continued.

Original text: Lisa Inhoffen

Translation: Mareike Graepel