Curious measure

Local grocer goes out of business: head of the village as “shopping taxi driver”

The Unimarkt supermarket in the center of Puckingen remains closed. The grocery chain has decided to give up the location.

(Bild: Einöder Horst)

Thomas Altof is taking action because the grocery store will no longer be open and some older people in the center of Pucking in particular will no longer be able to do their shopping. From Friday, the head of the village will be driving his residents to the Spar store in Weißkirchen himself for the first time.

A "healthy" town center is characterized by the fact that it has a restaurant, a local supplier, a bank and a post office. A reality in the past, but nowadays (unfortunately) no longer a matter of course. As we all know, communities have to be happy if they have a postal partner in the village, the bank still has a branch, a dedicated innkeeper cooks up a storm and a grocery store provides basic supplies.

This is also the case in Pucking, where the local grocer recently went out of business. FP local leader Thomas Altof: "When it became known that the operator of the store was insolvent, I immediately sought talks with Unimarkt, where I was assured that they wanted to continue operating the location. That's why it came as a surprise that the original announcement was revised."

Grocery chain gives up location
A profitability analysis by the food company is said to have shown that the location in Pucking could not be run profitably, which means that it is being given up. One possible reason for the withdrawal could, of course, be Altof's promising plans for the future. "It is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the basic infrastructure, which is why we want to build a community center in Pucking with a local supermarket, bank, doctors and apartments. We have already initiated the rezoning of the area where it is to be built," emphasizes the head of the village.

Mayor drives his citizens himself
However, as he is aware that the implementation of this center will still take some time, he has launched the "Mayor's Shopping Shuttle" at short notice. Altof: "On Fridays at 10 a.m., I take all the people from Puckingen who don't have the opportunity to go shopping to Spar in Weißkirchen."