Time to show the provider stores in Germany

I thought I'd add some pics to WA to show everyone how the corporate stores look.

T-Mobile doesn't have their own chain of stores. All of Deutsche Telekom's telecommunications services are sold through their T-Punkt (Punkt means dot) stores which are located in almost every major city and large town.

These services are broken down as follows:

1) T-Com - fixed line services for residences and businesses
2) T-Mobile - All wireless services
3) T-Online - All Telekom analog/ISDN/DSL/ASDL services (T-Online is being reintegrated back into T-Com after being spun off in 2000)

T-Punkt stores come in two varities:
1) About 3/4 of their stores deal with both residential and business customers 2) The remaining 25% are special T-Punkt locations which deal with mainly business customers

These are two of the T-Punkt locations in downtown Cologne:

1) Schildergasse:



2) Hohe Straße:



These are two Vodafone D2 Corporate stores:

1) Schildergasse:



2) Hohe Straße:



Here is one of the E-Plus Corporate stores:

1) Hohe Straße:



And last but not least......here is an O2 Corporate store (pic won't display - link will show the pic):

1) Schildergasse:

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3104/o2corporatestoreschildergassek.opt.jpg

Enjoy

 

Yup, it was a pretty lively evening in Cologne's main shopping district for a Sunday when all stores are closed anyway. As you know, stores only open 4 times a year on Sundays. The Hohe Strasse begins at the Cologne Cathedral and runs for about 5 or 6 blocks at which point you can keep going straight or turn right on the Schildergasse so basically you end up with an "L shaped" layout:

http://stadtplan.koeln.de/map.asp?strasse=Schildergasse+1&plz=50667&text=Schildergasse
http://stadtplan.koeln.de/map.asp?strasse=Hohe+Stra%DFe+120&plz=50667&text=Hohe+Stra%DFe

http://www.koeln.de/shopping/koeln/schildergasse.html
http://www.koeln.nicecity.de/english/malls.htm

 

Yeah, that's one of the things I liked about the UK. They reorganized their shopping hours several years ago to the point where stores are open on Sundays from 11 AM-5 PM.

The opening hours here in Germany are now 8, 8:30, 9, 9:30 AM-8 PM on weekdays (depending on the type of store, shopping centers and large department stores are using the last 2) and 9 or 9:30 AM-8 PM on Saturdays. This changed in 2003.

There are some moves being made to eventually remove the 70-year old Ladenschlußgesetz (Store Closing Law) but as you know, the Germans like to be conservative and it took them long enough to get around to staying open until 8 PM on Saturdays. I remember the times when I still lived in Schwäbisch Gmünd and I had to join the long lines of last minute shoppers at the checkout lanes since most people would flock to the store at 3 PM.

Each Bundesland determines the exceptions to the Ladenschlußgesetz but the rule of thumb is to allow stores to open on 4 Sundays per year from 1 PM-6 PM. Some places are open on Sundays from 9 AM-5 PM for viewing only, this applies mostly to car dealerships.

 

I don't know if we'll see any stores open 24/7 any time soon but with major American retailers coming into Germany, this may change with time. The retailer in question here would be Walmart Germany.

 

LOL, I didn't know that this thread would breed artistic and musical inspiration

 

Looking good, you're welcome I know how popular the T-Mobile stuff is with you guys getting more with T-Mobile US

Gamer can also redo the avatars with good precision, maybe we could get Gamer and Gideon to the G&G Avatar Shop @WA.

 

Yep I have mostly hard to get programs at work as well, I'd be more than happy to discuss those in the RZ or in Gamer's Avatar Shop thread if you're interested.