Sie wollen auch ein ePaper? Erhöhen Sie die Reichweite Ihrer Titel.
YUMPU macht aus Druck-PDFs automatisch weboptimierte ePaper, die Google liebt.
L.L. This year Sport Conrad celebrates its 120 th anniversary.<br />
How did it all begin?<br />
H.C. It all started with my great-grandfather, a master<br />
shoemaker in Penzberg – which is also where the Sport<br />
Conrad headquarters which we refurbished just last year is<br />
located. <strong>La</strong>ter my grandfather ran a proper retail shoe shop<br />
and in the 1950s my father started selling skis – a product we<br />
still fell deeply connected with. Of course, everything used<br />
to be much smaller, the shoe shop had less than 100 square<br />
metres, the ski shop about 150. Which is why the bindings<br />
had to be mounted in the cellar and the skis were transported<br />
up and down via a hatch. I was a young boy back then and I<br />
still remember helping out on the weekends.<br />
Sport & Freizeit<br />
*<br />
74<br />
engl. / One of Europe’s largest winter sports<br />
and outdoor gear dealer can look back on<br />
a success story of more than 120 years: Sport<br />
Conrad. What stands behind the concentrated<br />
skiing and mountaineering competence<br />
is a real family business that employs 170<br />
passionate staff today. Aside from the shops<br />
in Penzberg, Murnau, Wielenbach, and<br />
<strong>Garmisch</strong>-<strong>Partenkirchen</strong>, there is the successful<br />
online shop where customers from all<br />
over the world shop. <strong>La</strong> <strong>Loupe</strong> spoke to Hans<br />
Conrad about the company’s foundation<br />
as a shoemaker’s shop in 1897, about the<br />
advantages and disadvantages of the online<br />
business, and new trend sports.<br />
L.L. Only in the 1970s did the trend towards hiking tourism<br />
pick up and the demand for the right gear increased. Sport<br />
Conrad saw this development – which was a courageous<br />
step at the time. How exactly does the company’s pioneering<br />
spirit stand out?<br />
H.C. When the topic came up, the choice was still very<br />
limited. Very few companies were ready to deal with<br />
mountaineering and hiking. We swtill have close connections<br />
to these companies, one of them is Schöffel, for example.<br />
Those were exciting times, everything was new.<br />
In 1983, we as a family flew to Nepal where we did a sixweek<br />
trekking tour. Only after that did the outdoor-sports<br />
segment in the company really pick up. All of a sudden,<br />
we were selling American brands like The North Face and<br />
Patagonia; brands that had been unknown here until then<br />
and that changed the market significantly.<br />
L.L. Was there even demand back then?<br />
H.C. At that time everything looked very similar, there<br />
were just a lot of navy jackets made from heavy cotton.<br />
Then we started stocking a few red Gore-Tex jackets from<br />
Schöffel. And with Patagonia we brought more bright colours<br />
into the shop. In retrospect, these companies strongly<br />
shaped the market for mountaineering, climbing, and<br />
all things outdoor.<br />
“You really feel<br />
the passion for it<br />
in everyone, from<br />
great-grandchildren<br />
to great-grandfather.”<br />
“Personal advice<br />
still is at the core<br />
of our business.”<br />
75