The chairman of the advertising association calls for the city to participate.
“After Corona it will not just go on as before,” said Bernd Wintermantel, the chairman of the Waldkirch advertising association, at the meeting of the Waldkirch administrative and social committee. Anyone who believes that is subject to a naive fallacy. It is now about saving the retail location.
For this it is necessary to do significantly more than before in order to increase the visitor frequency in Waldkirch and to “score” with the customers: with quality of stay and experience as well as with accessibility of the retail location, in order to “face to face” sales – that is face-to-face trading – to enable. Bernd Wintermantel asked for support.
The Lord Mayor promised this: As soon as the budget was approved, the subsidy agreed for this year would go to the advertising community. But he also immediately drew attention to a new “construction site”: The Christmas lights, which decorate the Waldkirch city center in Advent, are broken, “and we have no budget at all in the investment plan”. Another difficult task is vacancy management, where one tries to act as a mediator as the city administration. Another “exciting point”, according to the OB, is the coexistence of gastronomy / trade and the desire for embellishment measures on the market square, as it is very tight there. Certainly more is possible in the social media area and in the mutual exchange between the city and the advertising community.
At the meeting, Bernd Wintermantel also gave an overview of the events in 2019 and 2020, which could hardly have been more different. While in 2019 various major events and Sunday shopping lured thousands of people to Waldkirch, no major events were possible in 2020 due to the legal requirements for the corona pandemic. The advertising community tried to keep retailers in Waldkirch aware of the customers through marketing campaigns in print and online media as well as competitions. The delivery service offers offered in the first and second lockdown were also well received.
The board meetings were held weekly via internet platforms, and the advertising community promptly provided its members with information on the applicable Corona regulations, and bought FFP2 masks and self-tests centrally. The Easter promotion took place under Click & Meet conditions. Wintermantel noted that the government support for many businesses did not arrive at all or was delayed and that the businesspeople had to take out loans: “Everything is becoming more and more critical and tight.” Wintermantel hopes that some major events are still possible in 2021. The city tours “Waldkirch und Du” should also take place again. A “shop window fair” is also being considered.
–
