Only seven years ago, the businesswoman moved her Südstrand shop from Südstadt to a new building in the city centre. Since then she has been selling fashion and home accessories there. But with the pandemic, her turnover declined - as it did for many of her colleagues. Although Corona is hardly an issue any more, she notices that it has become much quieter. "First the Corona crisis, now the energy crisis and inflation. People are obviously spending less and less money on things like I offer," she has observed.

She therefore took the opportunity to quit the shop when her lease expired, she said. "I'm quitting because I want to. Not because I have to," Müsseler emphasises. In addition, she is approaching 60 and no longer wants to work 60 hours a week or more in the shop. However, she is not thinking of quitting: "I will give up my shop, but I will continue to offer my goods in my online shop," she says. At the moment, the shop on Friedrichsstraße is having a clearance sale. Around Easter, she says, it will be over. She does not know who the next tenant will be.

New openings in Bonn City

Marc Mauer, on the other hand, is planning a new opening. The owner of Uhren Toussaint at Sternstraße 68 and Juwelier Hild at the Dreieck is currently having the shop at Sternstraße 57 refurbished, which once housed a Geox shop selling fashion and shoes. After it closed, a bag supplier used the premises in the meantime. When the renovation and modernisation is completed, Mauer also wants to open a watch shop there.

However, due to high sickness rates among the craftsmen and difficulties with the delivery of technical equipment, a concrete opening date has not yet been set. The entrepreneur, whose main shop is in Bochum, hopes to "open before Christmas this year".

Another newcomer to Bonn is Klaus Walth with his "be U. - Haus der Manufakturen". The entrepreneur from Brühl has rented a shop at the Dreieck, which used to be home to the Body Shop with body care products and cosmetics and has since moved to the former Hussel diagonally opposite. Walth says: "be U. stands for 'be yourself'. The concept of his shop includes a tasting bar where customers can try drinks, spreads, oils or spices and much more. The motto is: try before you buy. "All products are handmade in Germany and other European countries," assures Walth, who plans to open two of these shops in Cologne soon. The spreads, for example, come from a factory in the Eifel, the oils from oil mills in Greece, Italy and Spain. Walth plans to open in April.

"Coming soon" is also emblazoned on a poster on another shop on Sternstraße, which has been empty for some time. According to the name, Ennaciri is a perfumery with fragrances from France. The chain can be found in Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakech and El Jadida - and soon also in Bonn.

Japanese dining in the city centre

There is currently a yawning void in the small row of shops on Münsterplatz, where for many years the W&S Shop offered scarves, shawls and table linen, among other things, next to the Stadtbrot Bakery Rott. The shop is now deserted, as is the neighbouring pub. Café Mallorca opened in the former Poccino only last summer. Nino Wang does not know the reasons for the rather quick closure: he is the new tenant and wants to open a restaurant with Japanese cuisine under the name "Nomiya" at the end of February. Wang already runs other restaurants in Overath and in Leverkusen. "As far as I've heard, a café will probably move into the shop next door," says Wang.

The renovation and modernisation of seven commercial and residential buildings in the Viktoriakarree between Franziskanerstraße, Stockenstraße and Rathausgasse is visibly advanced. The buildings, formerly owned by Signa-Holding - a company of the Austrian Karstadt/Galeria owner René Benko - were acquired by Annette Leidenfrost from LP Investments GmbH almost three years ago. Signa had offered the properties for sale after plans for a shopping centre including a new university library fell through.

The investor wants to create 40 flats in the buildings, twice as many as before. Shops and restaurants are to be located on the ground floor. In the meantime, renovation work has begun on parts of the former Anton Dahm hardware building. All work on the buildings should be completed by the end of the year, Leidenfrost said. "In our completed buildings in Rathausgasse and Franziskanerstraße, the first rentals and sales are already underway," she reports. Among them are also smaller, furnished flats.

Demand is quite high overall, the entrepreneur is pleased to report. "I believe that many more people are moving into the city centres to live. Driving a car has become very expensive in the meantime." The rental price, she says, is between 14 and 24 euros per square metre, depending on size and furnishings.

(Original text: Lisa Inhoffen; Translation: Mareike Graepel)