Until now, shops outside of the food trade were only allowed to open in a retail area of 800m2 or less. The Berlin Administrative Court overturned this regulation for KaDeWe and Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof (GKK) last week. The Berlin judges did not agree with the different requirements for department stores and shopping centres. While department stores have so far closed off a large part of the sales area, this regulation only applies to the individual shops in the shopping centres. A large part of the total sales area in the malls is therefore available to customers. After this court decision, GKK and KaDeWe reopened almost the entire sales area on 4th May. At KaDeWe, only a few restaurants and the food stands on the sixth floor remain closed.
