Farewell to vacancies: The former Esprit store near the Hauptwache will in future be the location for pop-up fashion stores.
Image: Wonge Bergman
It’s still there, the good news from retail. One of them: Life is moving back into the former Esprit store in Frankfurt, Freitag bags are back, and there are now two Happy department stores.
Pop-up for trade and art
The shop windows are still taped up, but in just over a week the time will have come. Then Hier & Now GmbH from Mainz will open a pop-up concept for suppliers from various sectors in the former Esprit house at Hauptwache. For example, small fashion labels, a soap factory or an olive oil dealer sell here. Space is also available for rent for periods of just four weeks. “No Ordinary Store” is to be the name of the business, which is initially limited to one year and will occupy the ground floor in a first step. According to Marco Friedmann, owner of the operating agency, events are to take place in the basement in cooperation with other partners. The people of Mainz, who have already implemented a similar concept in their city with the “Lulu” in the former Karstadt building, rely on a mixture of retail and experience with art and culture. Good rental conditions made this possible, they say. The address is one of the most prominent on the Zeil. Esprit gave up the location at the end of 2021. Since the interim use of a low-cost provider, the property has been empty again.
Two new ones on Bleidenstrasse
For a long time, the Bleidenstrasse was a construction site – and still is in parts, but the first shops are occupied again. The Swiss bag label Freitag, known for its robust bags made from truck tarpaulins, is back with a new store; the previous one on Kleiner Hirschgraben was closed in the 2020 pandemic year. Freitag operates six branches in Germany and also sells through sales partners. There is a repair shop in Munich, to which bags are also sent from Frankfurt. In the immediate vicinity – previously there was a Bailly Diehl menswear store here – the Berlin department store chain “Kauf Dich Glück”, founded in 2002 by a young couple in the capital, has opened its second Frankfurt branch. In addition to fashion (mainly Scandinavian designers), there are also home accessories, glasses and jewelry. The young concept, which has a lot in common with that of Urban Outfitters, is obviously working. “Kauf Dich Glück” now has 23 branches, including locations in Amsterdam, Vienna and Graz.