We have learnt that Marianne Hoffmann passed away at the age of 93 on Aug. 15. As the sister of the late Käthe Dassler, she was the sister-in-law of Adi Dassler, the late founder of Adidas. She founded her own sporting goods store together with her husband, Hans, in Herzogenaurach in 1946, right after the war. Besides running her shop, she worked at Adidas in the executive team around Adi Dassler, officially acting as sales manager but handling other tasks as well. The Sport Hoffmann store, which belongs to the German Intersport cooperative, is still located in the Bavarian town that hosts the headquarters of both Adidas and Puma, and is now run by Hoffmann's son Johannes with his wife, employing some 50 people. Today, Sport Hoffmann is an interesting mix of regular full-price offerings and price-driven offers of closeout merchandise by various brands. Hoffmann quickly understood that the very specific retail environment in the shadow of the local superbrands' factory outlets required discounted offerings in her store as well. While Adidas has been running its own factory outlet in the town since an early stage, Hoffmann used her special relationship with the vendor to ensure her own access to low-price Adidas inventories. This flow of merchandise remained intact until Hoffmann's retirement at the age of 65.  The Sport Hoffmann store is currently located in the vicinity of other factory outlets managed by Adidas, Nike and other brands.

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