Store in Bonn city center Why the Vollmar perfumery in Bonn is closing after 111 years
Bonn · Vollmar perfumery shop is closing its doors for good, another long-established business in Bonn city center going out of business. There is a "bundle of reasons" for this, says owner Martin Hergarten, who is not giving up all of his businesses, however.
The Vollmar perfumery in downtown Bonn is closing after 111 years. On Thursday, the door to the store on Sternstrasse was closed. Inside, employees were preparing the clearance sale up to and including Saturday. From April, the perfumery chain Becker will then take over the store.
"With a tear in his eye" Martin Hergarten is giving up the store, but a whole "bundle of reasons" led to the decision, as he explains. "At 65, I'm at retirement age," says the businessman. "Sure, I could have kept going for another five years, but that would have just postponed the pain of letting go." There was no family member to succeed him, says the 65-year-old: "You have to be passionate about retail. My two sons are doing something completely different.”
Hergarten cites staff shortages, online retailing and problems caused by the mobility turnaround in Bonn as further reasons for the closure. Many retailers complain about this. "Suppliers used to be trading partners, now they are competitors," explains Hergarten, who has been running the perfumery in the third generation since 1983. Brands like Dior can now bring their products directly to customers online.
The businessman also reports about what he hears from regular customers who used to come to his store in Bonn three or four times a year from Siegburg or Koblenz because of the exclusive perfume selection. "They then linked it with a visit to a museum or something similar, but many don't come anymore because they're stuck in traffic for an hour on the way," Hergarten says. "What annoys me is that there are smarter concepts in many cities, where cabs or car-sharing cars are also allowed to drive in bus lanes, for example.”
Hergarten already sold nine stores in 2019 to perfumery chain Becker, which has been expanding since the 1980’s and now has over 70 stores. He will now hand over his main branch on Sternstrasse to Becker as well. "The concept remains," Hergarten emphasizes. "It was important to me that I leave the business in good hands and that the staff is retained." Hergarten does have one piece of good news for regular customers: A small Vollmar store in Linz will stay, along with his wife Gabriele's lingerie business and the online store.
Historical preservation for baroque interior
The furnishings of the Sternstrasse store are heritage-listed and will stay in place under the new management: One finds perfume bottles and cosmetics in baroque display cases with detailed wooden ornaments dating back to 1775. "The furnishings have been in here since 1911," says Hergarten. At the time, he says, his grandfather Wilhelm bought it from the Mülhens family of the well-known 4711 perfumery dynasty in Cologne. According to a newspaper ad for the opening, Vollmar offered "wax and stearin candles, floor polish, soaps, perfumery, toilet articles and artificial flowers" in 1911. In the early 1990's, Vollmar added lingerie to its product line. Since 2018, the store has been adjoined to Loft8, a 300-square-meter hall where customers can try out makeup or where events are held.
With the end of Vollmar, another owner-operated store with a long history is leaving Bonn's city center. Last summer, the shoe store Schwaeppe closed on Sternstrasse after 145 years. In that case, there was also no successor.
