“We were very surprised that Zara Home suddenly closed” said Sylvia Schmitz, who has run the Schmitz seed and flower shop with her husband for decades at Remigiusplatz 3. She does not know what is going to happen with the building now. Karina Kröber, Manager at City-Marketing is also none the wiser. Usually she is very well informed of commercial changes in the city. “Here, no one seems to know anything. We do not even know the reason behind the closure”. It seems that the former investor from the Netherlands, a capital company, has sold the building to another foreign investor. The traditional Bonner Kaffeehaus had to declare bankruptcy which was partly due to the high lease rates for the site. In response to GA inquiries, Zara Home Deutschland only stated that the branch was closed for commercial reasons.

In front of the former Lazzarin ice cream café on the market square, there are not enough outdoor tables and chairs to go around. The new owners are still waiting for the council to grant permission to provide outdoor catering. “We had to make a new application,” explained Guliana Berghi looking up at the sunny blue skies. “We think it will come any day now”. The 33 year old started the cafe on the market square with her husband Mann Mario four weeks ago. Its melodic sounding name ‘Solo Qui’ means ‘only here’. The couple come from Moldovia and both studied Italian as teachers. Her husband Mario learned how to make ice cream from scratch, says Guliana Berghi. The ice cream is manufactured in Euskirchen, where the couple already run an ice cream café. Berghi says that they only use natural ingredients. “We were surprised when we got the go-ahead from the landlord for an ice cream cafe on the market square” says Berghi. 25 interested parties had applied for the store location in the heart of the city. “The ice cream tastes really great, beautifully fluffy”, says Christine (28), who is treating herself at ‘Solo Qui’ with her colleagues Anne and Rebecca in their lunch break.

Daniela Momburg does not have time for a lunch break at the moment. On Saturday, her new store ‘Liebeskind’ opened in the Wenzelgasse. Momburg is the store manager and has her hands full selling handbags, shoes, belts and accessories made of natural leather. Liebeskind Berlin is one of the most popular fashion brands. “We have had a friendly welcome from the other shops here” says Momburg, as her shop has helped to significantly improve the standard of shopping in the Wenzelgasse. “A lot has changed here recently”, says the Bonn resident and makes reference amongst other things to the clothing store ‘Robert Ley’, which now has three branches in the Wenzelgasse following the opening of the City-Outlet store for men and women’s clothing.

Workman can be seen in the building next to SinnLeffers on Remigiusstraße. In this former textile shop, Telekom is planning to open a phone store, which at the moment is still located in the former ‘Goldenen Hirsch’ building at Friedensplatz. With this new store, Telekom is moving closer to its competitor Vodafone, who moved into the extensively renovated Commerzbank building on the Münsterplatz, the so-called Münsterhaus.

The traditional ‘Haus der Blumen’ (House of Flowers) on Friedrichstraße is only staying open until May. As reported, owner Peter Heusgen is closing after 37 years, because he cannot find anyone to take over. Also in Friedrichstraße, the outdoor store Steppenwolf will be closing this weekend. The traditional store was founded by Diane Frese over 30 years ago and has since been taken over by her daughter Silja Schneider. She explained that the lease rate for the approximately 400m store is no longer affordable.

“Luckily, we still have no big vacancies in Bonn city centre”, says Kröber, but the increasing lease rates especially in Friedrichstraße are worrying. “Here the landlords really need to ask themselves, if this is not short-sighted, as high lease rates can quickly lead to a high turnover in leases.”

(Original text: Lisa Inhoffen, Translation: Caroline Payne)