Flower Power

When the corona pandemic hit in early 2020, the unthinkable happened: Numerous governments ordered a general lockdown of retail businesses. In Germany, as of 23 March, restaurants, bars and non-essential shops had to close for several weeks. Especially businesses dealing with perishable goods were severely affected. Notably, the flower industry faced serious difficulties as flower shops had to close at the beginning of the spring season and millions of flowers had to be distroyed. It was not until several weeks later that the industry discovered that there was also a positive side to the crisis. With people spending more time at home, they started caring more about their gardens and balconies. As the garden magazin for professionals TASPO noted in July, flower sales picked up again and flower storages emptied at a breathtaking pace. In an interview with TASPO, Michael Schoser reported from his experience as head of the flower wholesale market in Frankfurt.

"The flower season simply started later this year."

As typical plant for balconies, geraniums were most popular. Due to their rather easy handling they appeal particulary to newcomers who may not have cared so much about their window view before being confined to work from home. Finally, Michael notes that the pandemic may have a lasting positive effect on the flower wholesale business. Retail customers have appreciated the value of the local sourcing of flowers and have turned increasingly to the regional wholesale markets.

Rocket Science

The Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands is the oldest and largest technical university of the Netherlands. It is particularly well-known for its Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, one of the few faculties in Europe to specialise entirely on aeronautical and astronautical engineering, in other words the construction of aircraft and spacecraft. The university tries to teach and motivate students by offering them possibilities to participate in practical research projects. An example are solar-powered vehicles that have regularly won prices at the World Solar Challenge in Australia. 

Phoenix prototype

In Aerospace Engineering, students are currently working on Project Phoenix, the world's first liquid hydrogen fuel cell aircraft. The idea is to develop the first emission-free aircraft. 

Jakob Schoser is second year student in aerospace engineering at TU Delft and part of the so-called 'dream team' of 40 students currently working on the prototype of this aircraft. He is in the electronics & control sub-team responsible for IT. The prototype is supposed to cover a range of 500 km and to fly for up to seven hours. The maiden flight is scheduled to take place still this year  to demonstrate that sustainable air transport is possible! 

Vlog lesson

Due to the Corona lockdown and the temporary closure of schools, teachers have become more creative to use modern teaching methods. Why not ask students to think of a topic they could cover in a video? Why not do so in a language lesson? 

This vlog (video blog) was made by Emil Schoser for his Dutch course. He chose to bake a marble cake and explains the various steps. The result is not only informative but also tasty. Eet smakelijk!

Help in the time of Corona

It is the spring of the year 2020 and the Corona pandemic is sweeping across the globe. What started in a faraway city in China has spread at breakneck speed to every part of the world. The first European country hit by the pandemic was Italy. As it was the first, there was almost no time to prepare. The Italian people and health system came under great distress before they really realised what was happening...

Joachim holding the donation cheque

Joachim Schoser has very close business links with Italy. His very business is the import of food products from Italy, especially from Northern Italy were the pandemic struck hardest. In view of great strain on the population, he therefore decided to take action and to organise a donation for Ospedali Santa Croce in the Italian region of Piemont. The customers of Joachim's shop Via del Gusto donated in total €10,000 to the three hospitals in Monacalieri, Maggiore di Chieri and San Lorenzo di Carmagnola that form the Ospitali Santa Croce group. 

"We know our suppliers personally. Often, they are small family businesses with only two or three employees", explains Joachim. "It became very quickly obvious that the hospitals would not be able to manage the situation and needed support. By helping the hospitals, the action would benefit all inhabitants of the region. We are very, very proud of our customers who together have donated such a large amount", concludes Joachim. 

Vorarlberg Wedding

On 27 September 2019, Verena and Stefan Schoser married in Kennelbach in the Austrian State of Vorarlberg. The ceremony took place in the 19th century mansion Villa Grünau. After the photo shooting in the romantic park of the villa, the newly-weds celebrated their wedding party in Langenegg. 

Verena (in white) and Stefan (right) with bridesmaid and best man

The swimmer

On 23 and 24 March 2019, the youth team of Swimming Club Aqua Cologne took part in the annual swimming competition in Niederkassel near Bonn. The team included eight girls and six boys.

Throughout the competition the team showed that they had not just come to enjoy the warm water in the pool, but to beat records and win medals. In particular the team's girls turned out to be successful medallists.

Frieda Schoser (far right) and the SC Aqua Cologne team

Frieda Schoser impressed in her speciality event breaststroke. She won bronze medals both over 50 meters (in 45.42 sec) and over 100 meters (in 1.34.42 min). The latter result means that Frieda achieved the standard time of her age group to qualify for the next level of competitions.

11 weeks

The Schoser community welcomes McKinley Jae Schoser -
daughter of Chance and Danielle Schoser -
turning 11 weeks old today. Happy birthday!

Obituary for Hans Schoser

In tiefer Trauer nimmt die Stadt Trochtelfingen Abschied von Johannes Martin Schoser, der am 20. Januar, im Alter von 92 Jahren, verstorben ist.

Schoser war über 37 Jahre als Mitglied des Gemeinderates, davon viele als Erster Stellvertreter des Bürgermeisters, der Stadt Trochtelfingen kommunalpolitisch engagiert. In dieser Zeit ist neben der Umsetzung der Gemeindeverwaltungsreform insbesondere die Sanierung des historischen Stadtkerns ein zentrales Anliegen von Johannes Martin Schoser gewesen.

Zeit seines Lebens war er, aus innerer Verantwortung und tiefer Verbundenheit zu seiner Heimatgemeinde heraus, mit dem Wohl der Stadt Trochtelfingen verbunden, teilt Bürgermeister Christof Niesler mit. Neben seiner Kommunalpolitischen Arbeit war er weit über das normale Maß hinaus ehrenamtlich engagiert. Unter anderem war er maßgeblich an der Wiedergründung der Historischen Bürgerwehr der Stadt Trochtelfingen engagiert.

Hans (left) with his parents Gustav and Maria,
his elder brother Gustav (jun.) and his younger brother Franz
and his sister Mechtild at her First Communion

Ebenso war er zweiter und später Erster Vorsitzender der Stadtkapelle Trochtelfingen und Gründer des Trochtelfinger Geschichts- und Heimatvereins und hat bei letzterem wesentlich zur Überarbeitung der Stadtchronik beigetragen.

Darüber hinaus hat er als Geschäftsmann mit seinem Unternehmen erheblich dazu beigetragen, Trochtelfingen als Einkaufsstadt bekannter zu machen. 1989 wurde er mit dem Bundesverdienstkreuz und der Bürgermedaille der Stadt Trochtelfingen ausgezeichnet. Im Jahr 2004 wurde er zum Ehrenbürger der Stadt Trochtelfingen ernannt.

Erschienen in swp.de am 23. Januar 2019

The Real Estate Manager

In our occasional series of professions that Schoser are pursuing we have come across a description of John Schoser's current job. As we could not have expressed it in more accurate terms, we copy the precise description from the NAIOP website i.e. the site of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association.

John Schoser is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley, responsible for 3.8 million square feet of office, retail, raw land and industrial space as well as oversight of 21K apartment units and 285 hotel rooms across the US, Brazil and Canada valued at over $6.5B. His clients have included major foreign investors, domestic corporate and state pension funds, as well as insurance companies. John has directed over $1 billion in asset sales; including purchase money financing/ underwriting John’s current role includes the evaluations of investment opportunities, supporting major investment activities, such as portfolio level acquisitions, dispositions, development, joint venture and entity level underwriting. In addition John is responsible for the preparation of financial and valuation models and focusing on increasing the value by implementing distinct asset management strategies, including creative leasing and operational efficiencies. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in November 2003, John worked with Lend Lease predecessor (Equitable Real Estate) since 1987. He spent time in Denver , Chicago, Atlanta and New York. John is a member of NAIOP and The Appraisal Institute. He received an MBA from Loyola University, and a BS, BA in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Denver. 

The outside hitter

Like most sports, volleyball has developed its own jargon. There are for example different terms describing how the ball is served: underhand, topspin, jump serve or float. Attacking techniques have funny names such as 'dip/dink/tip/cheat/dump', 'tool/wipe/block-abuse' or 'line and cross-court shot'.
It does not get much easier when it comes to player specialisation.  There are setters, liberos and various types of hitters such as middle hitters, outside hitters and opposite hitters. The outside hitter is considered the most important attacker who gets the most sets from his/her teammates in order to drive the ball over into the opponent's court.

Daria Schoser plays the position of outside hitter ('Diagonal') in the volleyball team of TVA Hürth. She joined the club in 2017 after having played previously for teams in Cologne and Münster. While Daria at first obtained a place in the team as maternity replacement her team mates have now quickly considered her irreplaceable. According to the team's website, they appreciate Daria's powerful attacks as much as her cheerful nature both during and after the matches.