Bauhaus in Italian

Bauhaus now also speaks Italian, and in a small space: this sums up the two special features associated with the new store opening in Losone, Ticino, in August: It is the first Bauhaus branch in Italian-speaking Switzerland, and it has an unusually small area of only 2,700 m² for a large-scale retailer.

It is one of two specialist centers that Bauhaus Switzerland has taken over from the DIY retail chain Do it + Garden. The Migros cooperative, which previously ran them, withdrew from the DIY market this year. The second branch taken over by Bauhaus is located in Pfungen near Winterthur and opened in mid-September.

“Although it is less than 3,000 m² in size, it is a complete Bauhaus store,” emphasized Dr. Christoph Theler, Managing Director of Bauhaus Switzerland, at the opening in Losone. “All product ranges are represented – even in the garden,” he said. In the hardware range, for example, there have been almost no cutbacks compared to other Bauhaus branches, but there have been cutbacks in ranges such as lighting, where Bauhaus Switzerland does not claim to have any particular expertise. There is also no wood cutting service.

Former Do it + Garden employees, all of whom were taken on, were also involved in selecting the product ranges; Bauhaus also created four new jobs. In the months following the opening, the product range will be reviewed and adjusted if necessary.

Losone – located directly on the border with Locarno on Lake Maggiore – is the sixth Swiss location for Bauhaus Switzerland, which has been in the country since 2006. Since 2015, there has been a store in the French-speaking part of the country.

The expansion into Ticino represents a relatively large undertaking for the Swiss subsidiary, because Italian is now being added as a third language in the company alongside German and French, and all advertising materials, for example, have to be translated. However, the web shop has also been available in Italian for around ten years. The Bauhaus language conventions have also been transferred; for example, the location in Losone is called “centro specializzato,” analogous to the German term “Fachcentrum.”

Considerations about expansion were already underway before Migros decided to withdraw its Do it + Garden DIY store chain from the market. “We have been looking for a suitable location here for several years now,” said Dr. Peter Lutz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the parent company Interbauhaus AG, at the opening. “It was not easy and is still…