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History in a few days: Vögele Shoes.
Ulrich Rotzingereconomic chief
June 2021, the beginning of the end: Vögele Shoes is sold to Germany, one year later owner Christian Müller from Hanover (D) files for bankruptcy of Vögele Shoes. In a few days, the traditional Uznach company will cease operations completely, and the Vögele brand will disappear from Swiss shopping streets. Quite the opposite of entrepreneur Christian Müller.
The German, known as a renovation specialist, is still present in Switzerland through his company CM.Solutions GmbH. Since September 2022, the Reno shoe retail chain with 253 branches in Germany and Austria has also been part of the company network of the still president of the board of directors of Vögele Shoes. 17 other Reno stores are located from Lake Constance to Thun in German-speaking Switzerland.
Is Reno also deep in the shoe crisis?
Spicy detail: the shoe chain is said to be in a crisis like Vogele before. It’s low tide in the cash register. The sale to the new owner Müller avoids radical solutions – up to and including insolvency, reports German media such as “Wirtschaftswoche”.
“How is Reno actually doing in Switzerland?” Swiss employees with whom Blick was able to speak are already asking themselves. The question is justified, as research shows. Vogele Shoes employees who have been made redundant report that advertising material such as sales and closure posters that had previously been used at Vögele have already been shipped to Reno branches. Some of them were already hanging there.
Game with the short-term closures
For example at Reno in the Stadtmarkt in Wil SG. Posters with “We are closing” and “Total sale” scare the customers. The branch was actually closed for a week. But Reno has been selling there again since December 8 – the product range is completely new, explains a saleswoman on the phone.
The same game in Bülach and Dietlikon in the Zurich Unterland. Total sale, short closure, new range of shoes. As in Wil, a clever move by the Reno bosses to get rid of old goods and clean up the range.
Interesting: It’s exactly the same pattern as at Vögele Shoes in the last twelve months: buy up branches, announce a total sale, close branches and then reopen a short time later with a new range. At Vögele Shoes with a known outcome. At Reno next year too?
Reno boss promises turnaround
Dieter Metz responded to inquiries from Blick at Reno. He is the managing director of CM.Sports GmbH, which has owned all Reno branches and the online shop since October 1st. Metz confirms that his company belongs to Christian Müller’s CM.Solutions GmbH. “Reno is not at risk of bankruptcy,” says Metz to Blick. The company is a traditional, rock-solid brand that has its loyal customers. “We now want to implement a carefully thought-out omnichannel strategy,” says Metz. The aim is to lead Reno into a “sustainably profitable future”.
Vögele Shoes in Davos GR: total sale.
Closures are staggered
The German Vögele bosses don’t do things by halves: just a few days after sending the 131 employees the notice of termination by registered mail, they announced the closure plan for the last 27 branches. According to the internal memo available to Blick, 17 branches will close next Saturday. A week later, on December 17th, seven other branches closed. Everything must Go. The liquidation sale begins immediately, “the discounts will be adjusted according to the available offer,” it says on request. The branches in Uznach SG, Wil SG and Emmen LU will continue to sell until the new year. They receive customers for the last time on January 7th. Then it’s over. The Vögele brand will finally disappear from the shopping streets.
Vögele Shoes in Davos GR: total sale.
The German Vögele bosses don’t do things by halves: just a few days after sending the 131 employees the notice of termination by registered mail, they announced the closure plan for the last 27 branches. According to the internal memo available to Blick, 17 branches will close next Saturday. A week later, on December 17th, seven other branches closed. Everything must Go. The liquidation sale begins immediately, “the discounts will be adjusted according to the available offer,” it says on request. The branches in Uznach SG, Wil SG and Emmen LU will continue to sell until the new year. They receive customers for the last time on January 7th. Then it’s over. The Vögele brand will finally disappear from the shopping streets.
Memories are awakened again: the same was said by the von Müller company when it took over Vögele Shoes. What Reno employees confirm, but Reno boss Metz denies: that Vögele sales materials are used in the Reno closures. “The branch closures are always short-term for a few days to prepare the systems and the new range,” says Metz.
This is not restructuring, as the industry says, but an “organic transformation and careful further development of Reno”. Metz: “Give us the time we need for this.”
But the clock is ticking. Superficially, there is the all-clear from the Reno boss. But the parallels to Vögele Shoes are obvious and do not bode well.