Zug,16.05.2018

Old Town businesses act to boost custom

The Association of Businesses of the Old Town (the photograph shows members Jacqueline Amrhein and René Freiermuth) has acted to promote custom in the area by setting up an exhibition of posters, and these went on show on Platzwehri, near the aviaries, on Monday evening.

The posters portray 39 people involved in a wide variety of businesses in the Old Town, whether it be in arts and crafts, jewellery design, catering or retailing. So professional are the posters that the exhibition led Regula Keiser, who is responsible for the development and marketing of the city, to say that they were works of art in themselves. For example, one shows haute couture designer Sarah Schlumpf with one of her models looking enquiringly into the lens, while another shows Franca Hegglin from the Intermezzo restaurant standing with her hands on her hips ready for the day’s business in front of one of her tables. Then there is one of Mrs Schaffner smiling over the counter at the Migros store on Grabenstrasse. “The city has an interest in supporting the wide variety of businesses which help give the Old Town its romantic atmosphere,” said Keiser, adding what a challenge it was for shopkeepers there to achieve a decent turnover in such small premises, not to mention the competition they face online.

Some of the people depicted and running businesses in the Old Town actually originate from there, for example shoemaker Michael Sergi with his “Da Giovanni” workshop. It was his father who set up the business 28 years ago. Initially son Michael worked in insurance and banking before deciding to take over the business in which he had so often, as a child, helped his father on Sundays. In order to set up his own brand, he set off to London, Milan and Florence.

According to Keiser, one way of boosting business in the Old Town lies in the synergy between culture and economy, with special events organised in this historical setting luring visitors there.

Do go along and see the exhibition, which continues until 27 May. Alternatively, you can see it online at www.altstadt-zug.ch.