Yet another piece of Berlin’s TAXI infrastructure, with which we have made a tidy turnover over the years, is disappearing. Conrad was Berlin’s most important source of electronic spare parts and components. Before COVID-19, Conrad expanded in Berlin with shops in the Steglitz shopping centre Das Schloss and near Kudamm. The store managers endeavoured to establish themselves in the neighbourhood with educational offers and the chain brought its products as close as possible to customers’ residential areas. This is now a thing of the past. Corona lockdowns and Amazon’s exploitation of delivery drivers have put an end to this business model, and we need a new shop for the stuff.
Our hunting ground is getting smaller and smaller. At the same time, it’s getting harder and harder to beat Google and Amazon with our own Berlin knowledge.
Conrad at Hasenheide was the last big electronics supermarket, where you could get almost all the components for self-made adapters, where you could find a wide range of mounts for the increasingly important screen devices, all the tools for electrical work and a huge number of practical things for the inevitable daily small repairs.
Nowthis also puts an end to the gig-saving information "... then I’ll drive you to the nearest Conrad shop" when the DJ passenger asks where he can quickly get a soldering iron and a sound adapter before his gig. From now on, the search "in real life" (IRL) becomes a good deal more complicated. "I’ll drive you to Amazon" ends reliably with the doorman at the logistics centre on the Berliner Ring. [1] The Amazon marketplace is as virtual and inaccessible as Conrad’s B2B web shop.
This development is probably only logical at a time when replacing a light bulb requires a trip to the garage. I would be grateful for any tips on surviving shops for electronic components. Please enter them in the comments field below this article.
For the nostalgic, here is all the official information about the shop:
WWW: https://www.conrad.de/de/filialen/berlin-kreuzberg.html
Postal address
Berlin Kreuzberg
Conrad Electronic Stores GmbH & Co. KG
Hasenheide 14-15 10967 Berlin
Opening hours
Monday - Friday 10:00 - 19:00
Saturday 10:00 - 18:00
Your way to the branches
Parking: Free car park behind the shop
Underground: U7, U8 - Hermannplatz
Bus : 171, 194, 344
Contact us at
filiale.berlin@conrad.de
Hardcore Berlin connoisseurs still remember the ballroom, cinema and discotheque next door.
Book "Hasenheide 13"
https://www.jovis.de/de/buecher/product/hasenheide-13.html
Tagesspiegel from 31.5.2021
https://www.sammlung-wemhoener.com/img/press/2021/Tagesspiegel-Mai-2021.pdf
BZ Berlin, 40 old Berlin cinemas that no longer exist today ---
Cinema "Quick" opened in 1946. It was then converted to seat 1000 people and became the "Primus-Palast". It had already existed before the war, but a few blocks away. 1966 was the end, the cinema hall was converted into the "Cheetah" discotheque.
Yesterday’s news: Conrad Electronic closes almost all shops - focus on online sales
https://www.heise.de/news/Conrad-Electronic-schliesst-fast-alle-Filialen-Fokus-auf-Geschaeftskunden-6670433.html
Image / Logo by eelektorlabs on Flickr published under CC- license CC-BY
