Karstadt Quelle dilemma

My hometown is a small town with less than 40,000 inhabitants. Consequently Karstadt Quelle, the German department store and mail-order group, has never been interested in opening up one of their retail temples in the neighborhood. Growing up, I learned that cities that had their Karstadt department store were somehow more important than my home town. Having a Karstadt store close by meant you lived in a gloomy city and shopping at Karstadt was the luxury associated with big city life.

I know what would have happened had Karstadt expressed any interest in opening up a branch in my hometown. Protest and revolt. Smaller retailers as well as mom and pop stores would have complained about increased competition and price dumping. There would have been a citizens' action committee against Karstadt's market dominance. There would have been unrest.

Yesterday, struggling Karstadt Quelle announced to sell nearly half of its 181 department stores. The entire list of the 77 stores on the "black list" can be found here. Note the article's headline where they wrongly talk about closing, not selling, those smaller stores.

By now you probably guessed the public reaction: protest and revolt. Everyone is opposing Karstadt's restructuring plans. Not just the unions. But also smaller retailers as well as mom and pop stores, fearing shopping malls would become less attractive without Karstadt stores. And citizens' action committees are being formed in favor of the convenience Karstadt department stores have been offering.

We don't know what we want, do we?