Station: [258] The World of Goods

„Quality goods for everyone. Consistently good performance. No special sales.“ – These were the three Schocken Company principles. It sold standardized affordable goods with a high practical value and a low sales margin. As a result there was no need for special offers.

The goods for all department stores were bought from a central point: the purchasing centre in Zwickau placed large orders and received bulk discount. The company also had its own manufacturing plants, which cut out the need for intermediary trade. Schocken also had renowned manufacturers produce goods for him. In-house brands were „Adina“ for photographic articles and „Audiphon“ for records and gramophones.

A range of tableware with gold edging that was very popular with  customers in Saxony was purchased in large numbers from manufacturers such as „Eschenbach,“ in Bavaria and Thuringia.

During the 1920s special departments for radios, gramophones and records for example, began to develop as a result of the continually growing demand for entertainment and leisure articles. Never before had there been a consumer and leisure culture like the one during the age of the Weimar Republic.

The designated price categories were underpinned by the swift transaction process . The wares were labelled with designations such as „111“, „222“ or „333“ and each price category had a specific level of quality.

The Schocken brothers developed a corporate identity and turned „Schocken“ into a brand name. Behind the name were affordable, but high quality goods, guaranteed price stability and excellent customer friendliness. 

The Schocken Company trademark and logo was the „Schocken, „S“. Customers in the Stuttgart department store were the first to see the modern functional design and Erich Mendelsohn produced the preliminary drafts.