Local Swiss Guide by Yellow Pages Switzerland

A Small Girl with a Big Impact Reading Time:        4 Min. Publication :             May 07 2026, Jonathan Schönholzer Most countries have a national symbol like an animal, a monument, or a flag. Switzerland has a five-year-old orphan in a long-sleeved dress. Her name is Heidi, and she is arguably the most famous Swiss person who never lived. Created by author Johanna Spyri in 1880, Heidi started as a story for children about a little girl sent to live with her gruff grandfather in the Swiss Alps. More than a century later, the book has been translated into over fifty languages and adapted for film, television, and animation dozens of times. For many people around the world, their very first image of Switzerland is not the Matterhorn or a Geneva bank. It is Heidi, running barefoot across an alpine meadow with her friend Peter and the goats. The story has become so deeply linked to the nation’s identity that it functions as a kind ...

The Quiet Transformation of Our City Centers Reading Time:      5 Min. Publication:            May 05, 2026, Jessy Thür Anyone strolling through city centers today can feel it immediately: something has changed. Where small boutiques , bookstores, and specialty shops once shaped the streetscape, there are now more empty storefronts, generic chain outlets, or temporary pop-up stores . For many people, this shift is both visible and emotionally tangible. With every shop that closes, a piece of everyday life, memory, and identity disappears. Yet this process didn’t happen overnight. It is the result of long-term developments that reinforce one another. Online Retail as a Driving Force One major factor is the rapid rise of online retail. Shopping is now possible around the clock, conveniently from home, and often at lower prices. Large platforms offer an enormous selection and fast delivery times that small businesses can hardly match. Sectors s...