Die Pampi: Business Partners and Lovers

∙ 812 words ∙ 4min read ∙

Three concept stores and one Café

Let me tell you the story of Nicole and Michael Dörries who are running three concept stores and one Café like Maestro in Hamburg, Germany! What do you find in those concept stores?
Each of them has their own specificity: you will find in Die Pampi Hudtwalckerstraße (Winterhude) clothes and accessories for children, in Die Pampi Osterstraße (Eimsbüttel) clothes and accessories for men, and in Die Pampi Heussweg (Eimsbüttel) clothes and accessories for women. But in all of them, the same kind of pieces: beautiful and highly selected clothes, jewelry and designed decorations inspired by the Scandinavian lifestyle.

I am a big fan of the one located in Winterhude, each item is remarkably selected: Meraki, Vila, Maison Labiche, Pieces,… This time I was curious to discover what they propose for men. Therefore, I decided to visit Die Pampi Osterstraße to ask some questions to Nicole and meet Michael at Die Pampi Café where everything all started.

Die Pampi Café, where it all begins

Before all this, Michael worked for over ten years in the kitchen of Portuguese Restaurants in the Landungsbrücke quarter, known as the Portuguese quarter. He always had the dream to run his own café, his own kitchen and get his own customers.
Already in the business, working in a hotel, Nicole for the management and Michael in the kitchen, the couple decided to open their own coffee Die Pampi, Hellkamp 70, in Eimsbüttel.

Die Pampi is located near Osterstraße, a very commercial street. A road of 1,6km long, where you can so many shops, that you can stay on this street alone all afternoon to do your shopping.
That is why it took some time until Die Pampi Café to be known. In fact, visitors from the big shopping street never thought about going to, nor exploring around where the Café is.
What was their secret? Michael explained:

“Quality and word of mouth are the master words. When you get a few clients from your neighborhoods and you treat them like they are your first client each time. Also, when they discover our homemade cakes, as well as our familial and relaxing atmosphere, and step foot in our quiet area, the clientele appreciates it.

When the Eimsbüttel quarter clientele appreciates our café, they talk about it easily to their entourage. Today, our clientele is mainly our neighbours, who are loyal customers making their way to Die Pampi café in their daily routine.”

From the little café to three concept stores

Today, Nicole and Michael are running three Die Pampi shops in Hamburg. They are all located in really well-known shopping areas and have the same type of clients, loyal and quality-seekers.
Regarding the concept stores, it is mainly Nicole who takes the initiatives for Die Pampi’s brand. Always in co-decision with her husband, she selects the suppliers, chose the collections she wants to highlight in the concept stores, and follows the trends every day concerning the lifestyle she wants to give to her customers.

“Our selection is based on choosing suppliers like us: on a human-scale businesses, no blah blah. Our communication is transparent and trustable. On top of that, the products need to be of high quality, unknown to the Hamburger public. Our clientele is looking for originality; they seek new brands of high quality”.

And then?

For the moment, running four businesses is entirely enough for our business partners couple. Nowadays, the most important thing is to optimize each business by improving the connection between all of them regarding management and logistic:

“We have recently invested in digital technologies to facilitate the communication between each store to improve the management of the stock and the communication between the employees.”

It is also essential to strengthen the relationship with its customer. Therefore, Nicole had an excellent idea to create the Pampi Box. Every month, the concept store sends the customers a surprise box with about seven pieces selected with love.

I did not go home empty-handed!

The price range goes from about 13€ to 130€ for fashion pieces, and from about 4€ to 230€ for decoration pieces.
However, you can come to these shops with whatever budget. On this particular day, I did not have much money, so I decided to buy this beautiful light garland for 14,95€. See below how I put it on the vegetal wall in my bedroom. Discover more pieces on their online shop.