For several years now, what will happen to the Düsseldorf wholesale market after 2024 has been up for debate. Roland Tolls (on the right in the picture), a board member of the Düsseldorf traders' cooperative and managing director of the wholesale company Berger and Tolls, spoke to us about the current status as well as about the asparagus range offered by his own company.
"We have just started marketing the asparagus, and the price at Easter was also at a moderate level. As in every year, the price dropped by a good 50 percent after Easter. If it really gets as hot as reported from the end of next week, it could be difficult for asparagus growers," Tolls says. "Greek as well as French asparagus has not been offered for a long time in the quantities of a few years ago, when the product was still sold by the pallet." In the interim, Tolls also offered green asparagus from Peru and Mexico.
Renewal of main gate starting October 2023
"There was a meeting recently where the city council informed us that the old gate will be modernized starting in October 2023, which should take about a year. Especially since the road behind it will also be renewed and a one-way system will be built. Not to mention that the wholesale market will be successively downsized," Tolls said.
Redevelopment blocks access
According to him, a feasibility study was previously commissioned by the city for this purpose, but it showed that, on the one hand, too little space was planned and, on the other hand, the one-way street principle could cause traffic to come to a massive standstill. "The biggest problem, however, is that if the old gate is redeveloped and the road behind it is blocked, then the flower hall will be separated from the fruit and vegetable hall. After all, there are still a few fruit and vegetable wholesalers in the flower hall with whom we trade. The way will also be simply blocked for the customers. This was not thought through to the end."
Future (still) uncertain
On December 31, 2024, the wholesale market is then to be closed down, although the verdict from the Higher Administrative Court still has to be awaited. "There are only two variants here: Either the wholesale market must continue to be operated by the city, in which case it will already have shrunk so small that it can hardly be operated by us; or the court will prove the city right, so we will have to leave the site anyway."
He added that the city is also trying to displace the wholesale market by every measure, which is why it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain operations there. "The Berger & Tolls company has been around since 1924, and people will continue to talk about us for a long time, even if the city of Düsseldorf no longer operates a wholesale market."
On Berger and Tolls
"2022 was the best year ever for us, which makes it all the more tragic that the city is considering closing the wholesale market. One of the things that benefited us last year was that the pandemic was finally over and people wanted to go out again. Business was also good from January to March 2023. There has been a bit of a damper so far in April, due in no small part to the cold and rainy weather. However, we can only be happy about the rain. The soils are saturated, but the water table has still not been replenished. We can only hope that there will not be another severe summer this year," Tolls sums up.
Further information:
Roland Tolls
Berger & Tolls GmbH & Co. KG
Eickener Str. 40
41366 Schwalmtal
Phone: +49 (0) 2163-576928-0
Fax: +49 (0) 2163-576928-19
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.bergerundtolls-fruechte.de