Germany: Landmann’s Biomarkt: regional chain in Munich

In March 2010, this little organic supermarket chain celebrated its tenth anniversary. Its first store at 54 Barer Straße was launched in March 2000 and occupies 170 m² of retail space. In the meantime, Landmann’s has focused on bigger stores but in Munich suitable premises are hard to come by, even at very high rent. Managing director Eva-Maria Troidl

They organized some special events on their tenth birthday – guessing the price of cereals and a brunch on Saturday morning during business hours. “A good 120 customers visited our stand-up snack bar and joined us in celebrating our first decade,” says Troidl, who graduated as a biologist. She has worked for Landmann’s since the end of 2001, and since 2004 the fate of this organic business has been in her hands. This shop feels a bit cramped compared with larger specialist stores but its location in the Schwabing district is excellent: close to the university and scarcely five minutes walking distance from Munich’s Leopoldstraße. (Picture on left: Landmann’s specialist store at 54 Barer Straße)
 

Although there are other organic supermarkets like Basic and Vollcorner only 1.5 to 2 km away, this store in Schwabing has increased its turnover, so the company is still delighted with its location. Here the product range consists of 3,500 articles, whereas the bigger Landmann’s stores carry 6,000 – 8,000 articles. They don’t have any plans for an own brand. A well stocked fresh meat department (picture) has been a focal point for many customers from the outset.

Although the main supplier is Dennree, Landmann’s is not a member the Dennree association of organic stores and it brings out its own advertising leaflets and runs its own price campaigns for special occasions. Every two to four months they have 10 % days when all goods, with the exception of magazines and tobacco products, are reduced by 10 %. Around 20,000 customers are held in the customer database, so that the company can write to them and invite them to take part in tastings, price campaigns and farm visits. The chain employs 130 people (equivalent of 80 full-time jobs). (Picture on right: Meat counter in Munich-Schwabing)
 

Landmann’s opened its other stores every two to three years: its second store (900 m²) was launched in 2002 in the suburb Gräfelfing. This store too has a very big organic meat counter operated by Pichler as a shop-in-shop. At the end of 2002 came the third store in Landsberg (550 m²), the fourth in Ingolstadt in the autumn of 2005 (660 m²), and in 2007 the fifth (500 m²) in Bad Wiessee on the Tegernsee. The roughly 900 m² store in Weilheim was located in a poorly frequented commercial area on the northern edge of the town and, having failed to establish itself, it closed after two and a half years. For a small town like Weilheim, that already had one well functioning organic supermarket in the centre (Bio-Michl), the size of the Landmann’s store was clearly too big. According to the Electronic Federal Gazette, at the end of April 2010 Landmann’s Biomarkt Weilheim Geschäftsführungs-GmbH went into liquidation.

The store in Bad Wiessee is also a good size but here too the footfall is low (pictures on right and left). Although it is located in a busy street, it is some distance from the centre of town. We’ll have to wait and see if it is viable long-term. The stores were fitted out in keeping with the style of the time they were launched and they don’t therefore have a uniform look in shelving and shop design. The most modern and attractive store in the one in Bad Wiessee on the Tegernsee in Upper Bavaria and about 50 km to the south of Munich. The colour of the floor and the metal shelving is anthracite. Over the shelves are signs made of slate that guide customers to the various product groups. Large-scale photos are suspended above the fruit and vegetables department (picture on right).
 

As in the case of the organic supermarket chain Füllhorn in Baden-Württemberg, most of Landmann’s stores are run by a manager who has minority share in his particular company. “Each one is his own boss,” says Troidl, “and he can decide on the product range, the shop fittings and the presentation in his store.” Since the stores are in some cases 50 km and more apart, they decide at a local level which regional suppliers they want to work with. In future, the company intends to put more emphasis not only on regional marketing but also on organized farm visits, so that customers can see for themselves where their food is produced.
 

What is done centrally by the management in Pfaffenhofen to the north of Munich is, for example, designing the website and negotiating purchase conditions with suppliers.
 

The owner of FVS Biomarkt GmbH, that operates Landmann’s stores, is Stefan Hipp. He is not involved in the day-to-day running of the business but he does take part in planning discussions every few weeks. He is the son of Claus Hipp, the well known owner of the baby food firm that has its processing plant in Pfaffenhofen too.
 

Tip:

http://www.landmanns.de
http:/landmanns-muenchen.de/?naturkostinfos