A kind of justice?

This is a facade which can be spotted on no fewer than seven thousand streets in Germany, where the Schlecker chain of drugstores has a seventy-six percent market share of this retail segment. The concern is also present in many other countries of Europe.

The thirty thousand employees of Schlecker have never been in any way to be envied. The company's treatment of staff has been for long been seen as an example of cold-blooded exploitation and in many other areas the firm's practices have been highly controversial.

I know many people who avoid shopping at Schlecker whenever possible, people who like me have not felt themselves to be boycotting the stores but simply preferring to shop where the smell of indignity and repression is less pungent.

This morning Schlecker applied for insolvency protection. The chain's employees are even less to be envied now.