Statements by the community

Dirk Bockelmann bd ROWA

I don’t quite know if I truly want to hold on to the old idea of a high street. I ask myself “do we still need that today?”. I actually like the idea of dark stores and ghost stores. I have merchandise where people live, and can distribute it relatively quickly. The inner city has something to do with living space, where people are supposed to spend time. Commercial consumption should take up less space in our lives than it did in the past.

A city without retail is like... champagne without bubbles

For me, the return to meaningful business means that the necessities is in focus again, and not what is feasible. Meaningful business means that “more sustainable” automatically also means “more profitable”.

Sustainable is the new Profitable

Let’s take the pharmacy as an example: I assume that within 5 years only 40 % of the transactions will happen in-store. The launch of the e-prescription in 2022, will fuel this development within the German market. The trend shows, that the pharmacy will become the place for primary care within the overall health system. Many countries are already following this approach and had good experiences with it. The path is paved for high-quality person-to-person premium contacts.