The German city of Heilbronn has tons of barbershops, barbershops, and nail salons. The Christian Democratic Party wants to put an upper limit on the operation of these shops. Christoph Trosbach takes a bite of the doner kebab he has taken in his hand and says “Very tasty but not for every day”. He is a Christian Democratic Party (CDU) city councilor from Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg, where there has recently been a heated debate about whether there will be a ceiling on the operation of certain shops in the city centre.

In theory, Christoph Trosbach, who is a lawyer, could eat at another restaurant every lunch break because there are too many within walking distance of his office. “Look right doner kebab, left another kebab shop, two houses down another one,” he says, turning around.

There is no variety of shops

In the opinion of the Christian Democrat city councilor in the city of Heilbronn this is a problem. The city has 125,000 inhabitants and is located north of Stuttgart. “It saddens me that the offer in shops is becoming more and more one-sided. Only hairdressing salons, barber shops, nail salons or mobile phone shops,” he says. That’s why his team is asking for a cap. Indeed, the group of Christian Democrats in the municipal council submitted a relevant application to the municipal authority. The city council will soon deal with this matter. “Our goal is to have as wide a range of offers as possible,” explains Christoph Trossbach

During the election campaign, the Christian Democratic Party was heavily criticized for its proposals. The other parties talked about populism or pre-election fireworks. Christoph Trosbach counters the arguments. “Such an accusation can be heard easily, but that does not mean that it is justified,” he emphasizes. The demand, he says, comes from the voters. They often said that someone should finally talk about it.

The municipality is wary of the proposal. “The question of whether caps are possible for certain commercial businesses is very ‘complex and covers various areas of law,'” says a council spokesman.

People’s opinions differ

The mayor of Heilbronn, Andreas Ringle, speaking to the Heilbronner Stimme newspaper, expressed some objections. “One can ban certain uses of stores but one cannot specifically ban kiosks,” he points out.

Gyradikas are like pizzerias and ice cream parlors on the street. Many shops are included in this category. However, Christoph Trosbach insists that the existing shops would not be in danger from the upper limit of operation proposed by his party.

As for the world, opinions differ. A passer-by says that more variety in the city would be good and he would even go to the center more often if, for example, there were more clothing stores, while another says that if the stores can cope with the competition there is nothing wrong with that.

Edited by: Maria Rigoutsou