Photo Gallery Falling Demand for Eastern Brands
An employee examines a bottle of Rotkäppchen sparkling wine. The former East German brand is one of the few to survive German unification. Only 17 percent of East German products have made it in the new German market.
Peter Endig/ dpa
Florena hand cream has also survived. A recent survey of managers of the former eastern brands found that the issue they were most concerned with was "quality."
Anja Voigts shows off products from her "Kaufhalle des Ostens" store in Hermsdorf, eastern Germany, last year. The 8-year-old business offers more than 3,600 products from old Communist state. Until now sales have been driven by a nostalgic fashion for "retro" products, according to a recent study.
Spee laundry soap, in its original packaging as part of an exhibition, has found some success in the West. The German "retro trend" is waning, so eastern brands may need to shift strategies to survive.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel held up a special bottle of Nordhäuser Doppelkorn last year at a campaign event for her Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The liquor is brewed in the former East German state of Thuringia.
