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I wonder if these shops developed in contrast to, or rebellion against, the uniformity created by communism in East Germany (or just quirky German culture).

• freeflight 5y ago
  From the article: > Germany’s Mittelstand, roughly defined as businesses with between 50 and 500 employees, may be commonly hailed as the “hidden champions” of nation’s economic success, but in Berlin retail, medium-sized businesses have traditionally been less hidden than absent. > Two-thirds of the city’s 9,000 Jewish-owned Mittelstand retail companies were lost in the wake of the Reichskristallnacht pogroms in 1938. In 1972, during the Cold War, East Germany nationalised even small businesses with more than 10 employees. > In such a skewed retail landscape, many small shops found they could compete by specialising in goods neglected by generalist department stores, especially since retail space was cheap and in plentiful supply behind the Iron Curtain.
  • mjfl 5y ago
    > many small shops found they could compete by specialising in goods neglected by generalist department stores So I wasn't completely wrong.