Two customers emerge, two go in. It is a seemingly never-ending performance at the Lidl shop in the Maximilianpassage. Inside the shop, shelves are spread out over 730 square metres.

While the grocery shops outside the arcade are closed, this rhythm of shopping at the station continues on Sundays - the discounter is open from 8 am to 9 pm. "Practical," thinks family man Christian Thielemann, who has just come out of Lidl. "But shopping here on Sundays is an exception. Normally, the weekly shopping is so well planned that I don't have to. Today I was missing an ingredient for dinner," says the 40-year-old, as he zips up his backpack and disappears through the underground passageways of the arcade.

It was also a missing ingredient that took 52-year-old Matthias to the passage. "Yes, in such cases it is practical, but I still find Sunday opening hours unnecessary," he says. You can get along just fine without them.

The run begins at 10 a.m.

One security guard also finds some of the customers' visits to Lidl on Sundays unnecessary, describing what he sees on the conveyor belt at checkout. "They just buy small items and snacks," he remarks. The flow of customers doesn't stop all day. While the arcade is still eerily empty on Sunday morning, from 10 a.m. at the latest, the rush starts and doesn't stop until closing time. "The queues at the checkouts go all the way to the back row of shelves," he says.

The branch is open 365 days a year. This is possible because of a special provision in the law. It stipulates that shops at railway stations may also open on Sundays to sell travel supplies. While some commuters and customers are happy about this, the trade unions think it endangers the so-called "Sonntagsruhe" (Sunday peace). But so far the discounter's opening hours remain in force.

New people are constantly arriving at the railway and metro platforms and then flocking to the aisles and shops in the Maximiliancenter. Passengers become customers - and vice versa. Those who have just finished shopping board the train with a full backpack or with a snack in their hand.

This rhythm, which is unique to a railway station, prompted Selim Demirel from Cologne to set up his own business in Bonn’s Maximilianpassage. Before that, he was a branch manager in a Cologne discount store. In March 2022, he opened his Turkish grocery shop "Seldi" right next to the Lidl branch.

The 38-year-old knows that it is not a rival business. "More like a supplement. We have food here that is not available in the usual supermarkets." Lentils, beans, spices, dates, fresh flat bread, pork-free cold cuts, a meat counter, fresh fruit and vegetables - especially for the Muslim population in Bonn and the region, the food market fills a previous gap in the city centre where there was previously no supermarket with halal products.

Shopkeepers do most of their business on Sundays

The shop did well from day one, says Demirel. Sundays, he knows, are the best day in terms of both turnover and customer frequency, despite shorter opening hours. "The snack bar owners in the area buy fresh vegetables from me. One even comes from Siegburg to buy fresh minced meat here on Sundays," Demirel says. The customers come not only from Bonn, but from the whole surrounding region - even from Euskirchen or the Sauerland, where there are no shopping facilities on Sundays.

A group of students is just leaving the Rewe-To-Go, now equipped with pre-packed sandwiches, ice cream and sweets. They are studying in the university library this Sunday and are just taking a lunch break. Why here? "Everything else is closed," says one student. " On Sundays, you often open the fridge and realise that you forgot to do the shopping," says a another group member. Freshly fortified, they now head back to the library.

But a Rewe employee thinks the arcade has not been doing well. "30,000 people a day, as announced at the opening, do not walk through here," he says. "There is also a lack of toilets and the empty stores don’t give a good feeling. Of course, the one year the arcade was closed contributed to this."

A retrospective: Shops had already been open in the new building at the station for a good year before they had to close again. On the night of Sunday, 20 June 2021, a storm damaged the building. The damage to the building services was considerable. The renovation work dragged on for months. It was not until July that the arcade was completely reopened. But some shops did not survive the closure: the Maxmo pharmacy moved out and three snack bars did not reopen.

"The passage needs to become more attractive," the Rewe employee says, wishing for a return to bustling activity. Because since the reopening, the arcade has woken up from its slumber and doesn't want to sleep again on Sundays.

(Original text: Sofia Grillo; Translation: Jean Lennox)