Sport Schuster, the old large-scale sports store in the heart of Munich, disclosed a turnover of more than €40 million for 2007, after a major face-lift. This means an increase by 15 percent compared with 2004. The figure cannot be compared with the previous two years as the main store was partly rebuilt and completely renovated during that time, directly affecting sales.
Rainer Angstl, managing director of the German retailer, noted that during the rebuilding in the first half of 2006 the house lost some 50 percent of its normal sales as the surface was reduced to 40 percent of its regular space. The opening of the new Schuster building was postponed and could not be completed before the beginning of the football World Cup in Germany during the summer of 2006. It actually opened its doors the day after Germany was driven out of the tournament by Italy in the semi-finals.
The Schuster group consists of its flagship store with its 4,000 square meters – 10 percent more net surface than before the reconstruction – and Sport Münzinger, another recently acquired store in Munich, measuring 600 square meters including a Lacoste flagship store as well as a 230-square-meter franchised store of The North Face. All these stores are located between the heart of the city, Marienplatz, and the shopping street Sendlinger Strasse.
The share of mail-order operations in the overall turnover is still less than 10 percent. According to Flori Schuster, the company’s owner and managing director, mail-order is not as strategic an asset to Schuster as it is for competitors such as SportScheck, just around the corner, or Globetrotter of Hamburg.
Sport Schuster, which celebrated its 95th anniversary on April 22, was founded by August Schuster, the current owner’s grandfather. In 2007, the seven-floor main store was visited by 1.5 million customers. On good days the number of visitors reached a peak of 16,000.
Specializing from the start in outdoor products, Sport Schuster is co-sponsoring a Mountain Academy that will help eight climbing talents from all over Europe to refine their skills over the next two years. Other sponsors are Mountain Hardwear, Black Diamond, W.L. Gore and a specialized magazine, Vertical.
