Somewhat bad News
Dear all!
There are a few problems. First the good news:
We opened the new store at Weserstraße 212!
That's great. What's not so good: It's going worse than we had hoped. If more people don't use the store regularly, we will have to declare this attempt a failure as well. There are reasons, needs and to-do's for the orga-team, which will be explained in a moment, but Robin lives on the support of many, so here are a few support possibilities for you:
• Spread the word! In 2020 we were surprised again and again in the Körnerkiez how fast and well it was spread from mouth to mouth that a new store with a new idea tries to shake the capitalist standard. This apparently did not happen in Weserstraße until now, but it is still possible! Friends and acquaintances, colleagues and groups, Neukölln is small and the right collective topic of conversation can decide whether a new economic system grows or shrinkels. • Come by! If you live anywhere near Weserstraße and want to see an alternative that redistributes profits: Buy your food from us, instead of normal capitalism!
Whether you are new, a long-time member, or sympathizer from a distance, these two points will ultimately determine for everyone whether the new store survives. Which would deal a heavy blow to the goal of growing this alternative. However, the store in the Körnerkiez and the store in Spechthausen are financially solid and not in danger. But why are we in this situation in the first place and what else needs to happen?
1. Guessing the future doesn't always work
With revenue losses of 20% compared to the revenue of the Biosphäre (the predecessor store), we would still have been in the green financially. Since we took over the old assortment, but expanded it by more than double, we found an increase in revenue likely. We are now about 50% below the turnover of the Biosphäre (regardless of the regular summer break). Therefore, we will only be able to continue if the situation improves soon.
2. Plans with too little time in them
For some months now, some Orgateam people have again been working clearly too much and beyond their limits. This could have been avoided if deadlines had been pushed back and hiring had been pushed forward. It would have been more expensive, but important, because in the storm many things weren't or weren't properly done, central things such as training was getting suboptimal little time and as a result on 15.6. we actually opened an only half-finished store .
3. Chaos meets delicatessen
The Biosphäre was a highly regarded delicatessen store. In the chaos we started in, we weren't able to meet the high expectations of the old regular customers. Members doing their shift for the first time, together with people who themselves are working in an organic store for the first time and are also not yet properly trained, in an environment where refrigerators break and products can't be be scanned. That's a far cry from the level of the store on Altenbraker, and that's not a deli either. There is fine food, too, but you're more likely to be networked than advised. Here, however, there are clear opportunities. If you visit the new store regularly, you will already notice improvements in some places (albeit rather from complete chaos to less chaos). And we are convinced that we will be able to match the quality of the biosphäre for most things over time. And with some things, e.g. the wide range of products and the political potential, we are already going beyond that.
It now remains to be seen how the turbulence and tensions will develop. Clearly the responsibility and thus also the further development of Robin clearly lies with us. And yet, at this point, the support of everyone is crucial for the further course of the project. Even though the orgateam is now at the center of the work, we are still all part of an economic transformation, or not. In this sense:
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