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across immense distances. The stationary trade must face the new challenge and the
change instead of remaining in shock-induced paralysis. The goal is to concentrate Entwurf • Design Severin Küppers Architekt, Stuttgart
the product diversity in one place and to offer choices without looking cluttered. mit • with Prof. Kostas Medugorac, Regensburg
And, above all, it must put into the focus what the colourful online-shopping world Bauherr • Client Die Werker GmbH / Marco Riedle und Manuel Brenner
cannot offer even with the best of intentions: the personal aspect. Real people who Standort • Location Silberburgstraße 163, Stuttgart
Fotos • Photos Julia Ochs, Stuttgart
show an interest in individual customers face to face and thus create an appreciative
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More infos on page 110
atmosphere – it is this counterculture to the anonymous, seemingly unlimited world
of online shopping which is the added value of the retail trade. An exception is the
classic, globally operating department store: It neither succeeds in fulfilling the lon-
gings of the potential clientele – expectations that no stationary trade can satisfy –
nor do gigantic shopping temples stand for humanness and personal advice. At
every visit, the customer is confronted with yet another seller’s face, one gets lost in
the crowd and anonymity instead of individuality is writ large. The French anthro-
pologist Marc Augé and the philosopher Michel Foucault describe such local pheno-
mena as “non-places” and heterotopias: mono-functional areas which have neither
a history nor an identity and lie fallow as to communication. The uniform appea-
rance in various locations and the identical product range offer little that is surpri-
sing and do not encourage discovery. Each location displays what is almost identi-
cal. Shopping centres based on global concepts are therefore not able to meet the
need of the people looking for an opposite pole to the online platforms and are ex-
actly for this reason looking for individuality. The large showrooms needed for this
and the difficulty of implementing safety concepts almost completely paralyzed the
major department stores during the pandemic.

Click & Collect instead of Trial & Error

So how should trade present itself? This is the question we asked ourselves in the
middle of the year when we were confronted with the task to develop a new store
concept for the Bergwerker mountaineering store located in Stuttgart and operating
since 2014. The goal was to find a way which combines the positive aspects of both
kinds of consumption – stationary and online. A first approach to a solution for the
overall concept is Click & Collect. The customer makes a first preselection online and
has the goods delivered to the shop. This has the advantage that the two store
owners Marco Riedle and Manuel Brenner have to keep less goods ready in the store Grundriss • Floor plan
and are able to reduce their storage areas to a minimum. The usual amassing of mer-
chandise is avoided and the customer is presented with an exclusive, presorted se-
lection. The sales room now serves as a personal showroom for the selected pro-
ducts. In addition, the customers no longer stand alone in front of the mirror, the a clean run and the rear wall. The fitting bench resulting from the former closed,
way they do at home, but a competent team of experts is at their side to advice. Due classic shop window makes the exchange with the customer visible to the outside.
to this personal reception in the store, an important side effect is produced in times Instead of typical goods, the customer service is displayed in the new shop window.
of the pandemic: Customer flows can be regulated, and the necessary hygienic di- The result is a harmonious interplay between the display and the interaction area.
stances kept. The core business at Bergwerker is exclusive footwear. Whether skiing In times of Corona, it has once again become clear how important communication
boots or hiking boots, both can be fitted on site and customized. Marco Riedle thus and encounters are for a human being. Even the latest web shops with their chat
speaks about issues one cannot represent online: “Each foot is unique. To customize rooms and virtual consultants cannot satisfy this longing. The shopping experience
a mass-produced shoe manufactured at the highest level in such a way that it beco- is one-dimensional and only serves to compare the specific information and the pur-
mes ‘yours’, this you can only achieve on site. Over the years, we have learnt a lot chase of what is (un-)necessary. This is how the division of the store came about:
about the sport as such and the suitable equipment. We want our customers to be- On the one hand, an area for exchange and for planning the next adventure; a place
nefit from our equipment and to avoid pinching shoes distracting from unique mo- where professionals and beginners learn from each other; where advice is given,
ments in the mountains.” The dialogue between the customer and the seller is es- and the latest trends are talked about. On the other hand, a presentation situation
sential. To be able to continue to identify the customer wishes and to adjust the where one can look at the brands and touch them without being disturbed. The hub
range, personal exchange is necessary. “We learn from the customers and the cus- of the shop is the “multifunctional tool”. It works in all directions of the room. On
tomers learn from us.” the metallic front is a shoe rack for the core business. Five metallic sheets remind of
snowcat tracks and are thus the right setting for ski boots and so on. At the back, a
Interplay between exhibition and interaction classic goods-carrier system can be equipped with a wide variety of accessories. Ad-
ditional zones in the room are produced by the protective mats known from the last
The room where this exchange can take place has deliberately not been designed skiing holiday. On them, each ski boot can in future be comfortably tested. Due to
according to classic associations with mountain romanticism. The visitors look in supply bottlenecks during the first lockdown, inventive alternative solutions had to
vain for a ski-lodge atmosphere and an artificial papier-mâché alpine via ferrata. be found. The clothes rack was thus made of a satellite-dish bracket and a simple
Rather, they encounter technoid materials. Cableway architectures, Gore-Tex and tubular construction. For the back, a commercial metal sheet was used. The
ski-run warning signs assisted in coming up with ideas. Angular material contrasts changing cubicle and the fitting devices for the boots were taken out of the focus
soft rubber protective mats which meet in a glistening, yellow setting. Existing room and are in the background. The result is a Stuttgart “valley station”. A starting point
edges – such as the geometry of the shop window – were taken up and continued. for future expeditions away from the city. All according to the motto “outdoor is
The thus resulting clear lines in the sales room produce individual zones for a bench, back”, it was possible to reopen the shop after the lockdown.

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