There are always industries up and down. This is mainly due to technological or social development. But small Gallic villages are resistant to the revolutions. Why? The “Kroon” looked carefully at three dying industries and spoke with the few operators who have remained loyal to their guild.
Society is changing, the technical progress is getting fast. This leads to changes that some industries feel more than others.
For example, we take video stores. At a time for Netflix and YouTube they avoided these stores to save the expensive DVDs or linear television. In 2005 there were still 137 in Vienna, currently seven, but most of them were devoted to eroticism.
The cult around the color
The solaria were not much different. In the mid -19s, the false color in the youth key word was in particular a tone: “Krocher”. From 236 in 2005 there are currently 88. The ban on smoking, in turn, leaves the shisha bars out of the ground with a few exceptions.
But: only because industries are no longer large, this does not mean that they no longer exist. Record stores and hooves can also be found.
In a small company restaurant on Favoritenstraße, the weak light of a lost era still seems. Between Blu rays, DVD covers and digital memorabilia is Paul Pawlek (68) with an espresso in his hand and the stoic calmness of a man who survived the storm. “I don’t do this for the money. I do it because I like to do it,” he says – and you believe that immediately. In the past, “Hell” was going on here. 2500 customers per day, open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. Nowadays the video store looks more like a living room with coffee chat. The boards are left, the walk -in customers are not. “My customers are friends now,” says Pawlek.
Digitization is still being asked
Some travel from other federal states – because of the classics, rarity, personal advice. And because of the niche: digitize wedding videos, save slides, keep memories. The Pandemie cut the heart of his company: the older one who rather leaves than electricity stay at home – and Netflix moved in. “But I’m not melancholy,” said Pawlek. “That’s the course of things.” Photos of Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Gerard Butler hang in the video shop. “Law of Revenge – my favorite film,” says Pawlek. A movie about someone who doesn’t stop. Two years, he says, he wanted to continue. “I did all my life, which was good for me. That is more than many saying.”
In December 2012, Hunnar Mohammad opened his first Shishabar in the 16th district. “She only had 50 square meters, but immediately settled,” he says. So he decided to move to the 4th district and to increase the location. In 2018, Mohammad finally fulfilled his dream and opened his Shishabar -Deuzen in Krugerstrasse 6 in the city. With the help of a loan and a lot of love, the restaurant was rebuilt and quickly a success. But in 2019 the smoking ban arrived. “In the beginning we offered the shishas in the garden. First there was a decrease in turnover of 70 percent, but it worked over time,” says Mohammad. But then suddenly a special permit for Shishas also had to be requested in the garden. It took two years before it was approved.
Another mainstay was needed
“At the moment we can offer four water pipes at the same time in the shades,” explains the Viennese. Of course this is not enough, so has been trusting for some time on barsnacks of Eastern dishes. Mohammad: “We have bitten, but it is very difficult.” In the industry, many had already thrown the towel, the few who were still there would have fear of existence. “Why is there no special permit in Austria like in the rest of the world,” he asks. And: “Shishaarus gives so many people joy and relaxation.” Mohammad hopes that the shisha will be taken out of the smoking law.
When Hans Arsenovic tells about his solarium companies, his eyes seem to be at the highest level as a high -performance device. He still leads 13 branches – once 50. The industry has shrunk, he says. But he never stopped believing in the sun. It all started next to his banking career – a studio, “out of curiosity”. It soon became a empire that grumbled like a tube fan in the 1990s. It was the era of Clubbings, sunscreen and solarium as a status symbol. Then came The Cut: Skin Cancer Debates, who warns, the ban on younger than 18 years old. “The pharmaceutical lobby has shot us,” says Arsenovic – and does not sound bitter, but wide awake. Nowadays his studios are high -tech oases: free drinks, advice according to skin type, devices with medical lighting technology.
“We sell a positive attitude towards life”
“We no longer sell Tan, we sell well -” he says. Light against winter depression, against vitamin D deficiency, against pale office scheme. And yet: the energy crisis hurt. But Arsenovic has upgraded, modernized, saved, invested. “Today we are debt -free. The golden times are over.” He thinks quickly, acts faster. Collagen lamps, bleaching, cosmetic studios-what works is being tested, scaled, rejected or multiplied. Arsenovic is an entrepreneur in the best sense of the word: someone who does not dive away, but repent. His secret recipe? “I was never worse a sun – but a light thinker.”
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
