All kinds of felt
As I was recently strolling along Dienerstraße in Munich’s city center, a woman in front of me stopped so suddenly that her friends inevitably bumped into her.
Her face was lit with delight, and her voice nearly squealed as she exclaimed, „Uiii! All kinds of felt!”
I was utterly surprised and quite certain I heard her friends echo something like „Wowee!” or „Yay!”
They were certainly happy and thrilled.
The colorful felt shop, in the arcades of the town hall, has been around for nearly 150 years.
Unless I actually need a specific piece of felt, I tend to walk past the shop without particularly noticing it.
Even when I do shop there, I do so largely without any emotion.
And the familiar “Felt of all kinds” sign in the window is something I barely register.
But the joyful group of women, who now eagerly spilled into the tiny store, changed my perspective in an instant.
First of all - how lovely it is to find joy in seemingly small things.
And is a traditional shop, one that preserves an age-old craft, truly just a „small thing”?
In a world where standardization and cost-cutting squeeze out unique little shops, Johanna Daimer’s store may actually be a rare treasure.
These enthusiastic women, whom I had watched with mild amusement, held up a mirror to me in terms of mindfulness.
Now, whenever I walk from Marienplatz to Odeonsplatz, I smile a bit to myself, glad that, whenever I like, I can buy „all kinds of felt.”
All the more reason for us to share a few particularly worthwhile examples of small specialist shops in Munich.
