Entertainment should keep shoppers engaged

Online shopping is the biggest enemy of downtown stores. It leads to a change, the visit to the center of Basel will change constantly. In order for retailers to remain attractive, shopping trips will need more entertainment in the future.

Nation’s first city revitalization fund of six million

The canton of Basel-Stadt has had a city revitalization fund since the end of 2020. The fund has six million francs at its disposal for a period of ten years. Anyone who has an idea for projects in the city center can apply to the canton for financial support.

An eight-member council decides on the approval of the project. This is how the canton wants to bring life to the heart of the city of Basel. Project ideas can be submitted via entwicklung.bs.ch.

“Make room for cafes and lower rents”

That especially in There is a lot of coming and going on Freie Strasse, as hairdresser Patrick Schraner has noticed. He is co-owner of the hairdressing salon VIVID hair, which will open in Freie Strasse at the beginning of February. As Schraner says, Freie Strasse must become more attractive: “Make room for coffee. Make the rental prices so that Freie Strasse becomes interesting again». The fact that there is no outdoor catering on the street is problematic. “You just go shopping on Freie Strasse and then sit somewhere else afterwards. That absolutely has to change,” Schraner continued.

Stephanie Boehm, owner of the concept store Dan’s LAB, also notices that customers have different needs today: “I have the feeling that the city center has lost its authority and personality a bit because there are so many big chain stores».

Zurich, Ticino and Lucerne are enough together Advance a

On Friday, representatives of the governments of the cantons of Zurich, Ticino and Lucerne announced that they want to call on the Federal Council to stop shopping on Sunday easier to enable in inner cities.

At a media conference in Zurich, the government councilors and heads emphasized that the corona pandemic is severely damaging tourism in city centers. Meanwhile, tourism in mountain regions would have recovered from the crisis.

The Zurich government councilor Carmen Walker Späh (FDP) blames the fact that in remote, tourism-heavy regions, under certain regulations, shops too may be open on Sundays. The representatives are therefore demanding an adjustment to the ordinance on the labor law – shopping on Sundays should also be possible in city centers.

Basel doesn’t need Sundays though for shopping

Upon request, the canton of Basel-Stadt states that opening shops on Sundays in Basel-Stadt is not a high priority. “Basel’s voters have clearly rejected an extension of shop opening times several times, the last time three years ago,” writes the Office for Economic, Social Affairs and Environment on Friday, adding: “Last year came from the Basel retail and tourism representatives no demands for open shops on Sundays.»

The importance of tourism in Basel plays a smaller role anyway. According to the WSU, the four Sunday sales days in Advent are enough for the canton of Basel-Stadt: “We judge other measures to be more effective for reviving downtown Basel: events, events, the redesign of public space, activities by individual companies or groups”. with which the city revitalization fund is intended to support this strategy.