In just over two months, Cologne's wholesale market will close – but for now, sales are continuing as usual. Very few of the approximately 80 remaining traders have moved so far. Some have found alternative locations, which they are now rushing to get ready. Others are simply facing closure. "There will be some bankruptcies," says Michael Rieke, spokesperson for the Interessengemeinschaft (IG) Großmarkt (en.: Wholesale Market Interest Group). Norbert Heep, who chairs the IG Großmarkt, estimates that total sales at the wholesale market in 2022 will have been around 150 million euros, with a turnover of 80,000 tons of fruit and vegetables. There are no exact figures, nor is it known how many people are directly affected by the closure. It is likely to be several hundred.
© Hugo Huijbers | FreshPlaza.com
The protagonists of Cologne's wholesale market. Clockwise: Nevzat Taskiran, co-managing director of the new ABA Frischecentrum, IG spokesman Michael Rieke, and Norbert Heep, IG chairman and managing director of Früchte Heep.
After intensive discussions with various landowners and investors, he has now found an alternative location for his company, Früchte Heep, at the flower wholesale market in Niehl. 1,200 square meters were available. Heep could have used more space, but he will be able to keep his 25 employees, "that was a condition for me," he said. He wants to move two weeks before the Christmas shopping season.
One of the few commercial areas in the Cologne city limits that meets the requirements for trading in fresh goods is located in Gremberghoven. There, 14 retailers are now renting a new 8,500-square-meter hall from Dibag, a specialist in commercial site development. Nevzat Taskiran, managing director of the fruit trading company Birkenheyer and one of the bosses of the new "ABA Frischecentrum," hopes to continue to benefit from a cluster of different retailers, at least on a smaller scale. Planned move: after Christmas. Anyone who has made structural changes to their area at the wholesale market must pay for the demolition, which is carried out by the city. According to Taskiran, this amounts to EUR 178,000. "That hurts," he says, but he has been preparing for it for years.
For more information:
www.koelner-grossmarkt.de/themen/koelner-grossmarkt/
www.birkenheyer.com/
https://www.frucht.de/
