Mymuesli closes 20 of 23 stores

Most of the public traffic in city centers failed to materialize in 2020, and now Mymuesli is drawing the consequences: 20 of the 23 stores will be closed and employees laid off.

The coronavirus pandemic is claiming its next victim: Mymuesli will close 20 of its 23 stores across Germany over the next two years. According to the Passau-based company, it employs 800 people, 130 of whom work in the stores that are to be closed. The company is not yet able to say which location will be affected first. This depends on how quickly Mymuesli can get out of the respective rental agreements.

Employees are likely to be laid off for operational reasons unless they can be accommodated at the remaining locations such as Berlin and Passau. However, this will not be possible for the majority of them, as their employment is tied to the operation of the stores, according to Mymuesli.

"We feel compelled to take this step," says Mymuesli co-founder Philipp Kraiss. "Even when grocery stores were allowed to remain open, the drying up of public traffic was clearly noticeable." Even in the non-lockdown months, sales in the stores were up to 80 percent lower than in the previous year, says Kraiss, and the online business could only partially compensate for this.

Mymuesli was founded back in 2007 and sold its breakfast cereals primarily online, only slowly opening stores in city centers in Germany, Switzerland and Austria as its success grew. Now the company wants to return to online retail and also offer other products such as baby food.