The Over-Market

Migros Markets were not always welcomed with open arms. Small retailers were concerned about their ability to compete and traditionalists complained loudly about the introduction of the American supermarket concept. Gottlieb Duttweiler defended Migros Markets, claiming they were an improved Swiss version of a foreign concept.

The introduction of the Migros Markets, which are actually Migros supermarkets, attracts harsh criticism in 1952. Opponents of Migros see their worst fears confirmed, as the huge expansion of the Migros range now competes with the retail traders specialising in consumer goods. Retailers of stationery, household equipment, electronic articles and clothes are affected, to mention just a few.
The association of Swiss retailers expresses its criticism of the Migros Markets in a poem with the title ‘Der Über-Markt’ (The Over-Market). It calls for a boycott of Migros and ends with the question: “Do you want the over-market, which is eating us all up, to grow stronger?”
Part of the resentment against the Migros Markets is, however, that the supermarket is an American invention. Traditionalists especially resist the Americanisation of everyday life, something that has increased in Switzerland since the Second World War. Gottlieb Duttweiler is certainly very conscious of this as he carefully follows the critical reporting in the press. In the Brückenbauer, he tries to combat the anti-American reflex at least among Cooperative members: “Dear members! Can we not also be a little proud to be able to show the Americans, the inventors of the supermarket, a Swiss/European solution to the problem? No cold sales machines, but spacious, cheerful, homely markets. The spirit, the colours and the form are no copies, but a new, improved version!”