“AppelrathCüpper” is celebrating its 67th anniversary of business in Bonn this year. It was taken over by entrepreneur Peter Graf in 2020 after filing for insolvency. Invited to the reopening were representatives from business and commerce as well as the deputy district mayor Nicole Bonnie (CDU). She thanked the business for its investment right in the heart of the city during these difficult times. The redesigned salesrooms, which extend to the upper floor, are bright and friendly. Shoppers will find upscale fashion here.

Diagonally opposite on the corner of Acherstrasse, large new store windows reveal a completely gutted store that had once been subdivided. The corner was once occupied by the "Haar Profi" store, which has since moved to Sternstrasse. Construction workers who are still putting the finishing touches on the new store say they have heard that a “Tommy Hilfiger” store plans to move in there. There used to be a Hilfiger store on Bottlerplatz. It closed five years ago, and today there is a "Levis” store there.

A few meters further around the corner on Sternstrasse is the new boutique "Like Anna," a Danish fashion company that recently opened its seventh branch within Germany in Bonn, as an employee proudly reports.

After a long period of vacancy, the former store of the "Geox" label has also found a new tenant: Abdurrahim Sengül and his team sell items including travel bags, handbags, scarves and other accessories. The name of the new store: “Trendy”. "Unfortunately, the wind tore off the new store sign," says the merchant, pointing to the facade where a balloon from the opening ceremony was still hanging, the wind having spared it.

Changes are also taking place on Friedrichstrasse. The street has long since emerged from its former slumber and has become a popular shopping, restaurant and café mile in Bonn's city center. There is a new tenant in the building at Friedrichstrasse 49, which until recently was home to the boutique store “Schuh-Schuh” - as reported, the owner closed her business not only because of COVID, but also because of increasing bureaucracy and a high tax burden. In early summer, Andrew Hill from Limbach Immobilien reports, the specialty store "Vom Fass" is to reopen there on about 200 square meters. There, one will find wines from different areas, high-quality vinegars, oils and spirits.

At Friedrichstrasse 44, where the fashion store “Joyce and Girls” recently closed after many years, there will be a culinary offshoot of the Rheinhotel Dreesen, where you can buy and take home all the food, wine and spirits that you can otherwise only enjoy at the hotel on the banks of the Rhine in Bad Godesberg. "The decisive factor for both leases, in addition to the moderate rental prices compared to high-frequency locations, was the special flair of Friedrichstrasse with its many unique offers," says Hill.

The “Cigar Embassy”, which Torger Brunken has opened in the Kaiserpassage (entrance Am Neutor), is all about enjoying cigars. On offer: More than 20,000 cigars in a walk-in humidor (climate-controlled room) as well as cigar accessories, cases, high-quality lighters and spirits to along with the cigars. Brunken has also set up a cigar lounge with comfortable armchairs, music and a small library, he tells GA. (Orig. text: Lisa Inhoffen / Translation: ck)