Franz Carl Weber disappears to make way for Müller

Franz Carl Weber’s main store in Zurich becomes a Müller subsidiary.Image: keystone

German drugstores Müller took over the Franz Carl Weber toy stores a year ago, leading to the closure of many branches. The head office in Zurich is now also affected.

Stefan Ehrbar / ch media

The end of the Swiss toy store Franz Carl Weber is slowly taking shape. The company was bought last year by the German drugstore Müller. Since then, sites such as Basel, Lucerne and Bern have become Müller subsidiaries. Others, like those in Lausanne or Bienne, have been closed.

According to Müller’s website, only 13 of the 23 Franz Carl Weber stores listed in 2023 remain – and the dismantling continues. Now, even the parent company is threatened. The days of the famous store on Zurich’s Bahnhofplatz are indeed numbered, as revealed in a building permit application published in December.

It is the end of 143 years of history. In 1881, German emigrant Franz Philipp Karl Friedrich Weber opened his first store on Bahnhofstrasse. The company, which had up to 50 subsidiaries throughout the country, remained in the family until 1984, before being sold to Denner and then, in 2006, to the French group Ludendo. It went bankrupt in 2016. Simba Dickie, Dobler and former CEO Yves Burger – who left the company in 2019 – then took over.

Silence radio

In its building permit application, the Aargau branch of Müller speaks of a “transformation of the existing Franz Carl Weber branch into a Müller branch”. The future point of sale will offer an assortment of “drugstore, perfumery, stationery, toys, multimedia, natural store with pre-packaged organic foods, household items, socks and tights, crafts, pet store”. Toys are therefore less and less important.

The drugstore giant’s press service does not provide any details about this redevelopment. It also does not communicate on the future of the few remaining Franz Carl Weber stores. This reaction is not surprising: in a previous request regarding its strategy in Switzerland, the company had already refused to provide answers for exactly the same reason.

Distributor in full expansion

Although ex-owner Marcel Dobler stressed last year in an interview with CH Media that the brand would continue, it is therefore gradually disappearing from city centers. Dobler, who wanted to join the board, left after just a few months. Shortly after the takeover, the new owners also closed the online store and placed posters at points of sale to draw attention to the upcoming changes.

Müller is part of the empire of founder and billionaire Erwin Müller, now 92 years old. The chain achieved a net turnover of 4.6 billion euros during the 2022/2023 financial year thanks to its approximately 35,000 employees. Müller currently operates around 940 locations in eight European countries.

There are only thirteen Franz Carl Weber stores left in Switzerland.Image: keystone

As soon as hands changed, the branch speculated on the distributor’s expansion strategy. Some point out that what Müller is really interested in is good city center locations. These are very popular in Switzerland and are, in comparison, rarely found on the market.

DM distance

Müller has actually stepped up the pace in Switzerland: while it had 69 stores at the end of 2022, it had already increased to 91 at the beginning of November this year. Growth possible thanks to the transformation of existing toy stores, but also thanks to openings.

Müller remains the third largest channel in Germany, behind DM and Rossmann. The latter also wants to attack the Swiss market and has been established in the canton of Lucerne since the beginning of December. Rossmann intends to operate more than 150 subsidiaries in Switzerland in the medium term. The company is currently looking for space in cities, but also in “countryside areas or rural regions with a significant catchment area”.

DM is not currently considering setting up in Switzerland. The group confirmed this a few weeks ago to several media outlets. Since August, however, we have found a few dozen products from its Balea brand at Manor.

(Translated and adapted by Valentine Zenker)