A row has broken out after customers were told by Woolworths staff that Christmas decorations will no longer be stocked as it’s now a Muslim store.

Dortmund, Germany, residents were shocked to see the Woolworths branch’s Yuletide selection, which included gifts, tree decorations, and chocolate Santas, was removed after just a few days on display.

One shopper reported that the entire Christmas range was on display on Friday, but had disappeared when she visited the next day. The Dortmund resident said when she arrived at Woolworths on Saturday she was greeted by “empty shelves, which had been full the day before”.

A member of staff explained the sudden withdrawal boasting, “We are a Muslim business, we don’t want to sell Christmas articles”.

Seda Capakcur, the branch’s manager, confirmed festive items were no longer being sold at the store.

“The Christmas articles are hardly in demand here. Already last year, everything remained unsold”, she told reporters.

News about the Dortmund Woolworths went viral, prompting the company’s head office to make a statement on the controversy.

Spokesman Diana Preisert said: “Woolworths is, of course, not a Muslim company. Christmas merchandise is available from September onwards and should be sold out by the end of December.

“In this branch, however, demand was too low. Therefore the goods were distributed to other branches.”

She added that few customers now celebrate Christmas in the area, citing “local conditions”, to describe how the store’s surrounding locale is now mostly Muslim as a result of mass immigration.

City officials report that Christians now make up less than 30 per cent of the total population of Northern Dortmund, where the store is located.

In September, German Catholics spoke out to criticise the trend in public daycare centres of dropping Christmas festivities in favour of paying lip service to the “diverse cultures” of migrants.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was roundly mocked last month when she suggested that Germans who are worried about Islamisation can contain the threat by playing Christmas carols on the flute, at a party conference in Wittenburg.