XX WYD: SHOPKEEPERS OF DOWNTOWN COLOGNE, YOUTH FAITH WONDERFUL, BUT LITTLE BUSINESS

"The World Youth Day in Cologne has been a wonderful meeting, a new carnival without alcohol, but sales have not been good". The words of the owner of a fruit stall on the high street of Cologne summarize what the shopkeepers of the town think. "Business – says the shop assistant of Life Fashion Stores, a shop that sells clothing but also crosses and rosary beads – has not been good because the pilgrims have come to see the Pope and not to buy clothing". Another problem for the people of Cologne is getting around: for those who don’t have a car and have to travel by train or bus, it is really difficult". This is the complaint of a salesman of Mobilcom, a shop that sells cellular phones, which also sells a special SIM card for the WYD with 10 euros worth of calls: "Our clients are mainly locals because our line of business is telephone contracts". Instead the discomfort is not a problem for the owner of Expo, a shop that sells gadgets: "Our town is used to hosting major events – he says – and traffic is not an unusual problem". The shops that have done business are undoubtedly the fast foods and grocery stores. "These young people were quite hungry, especially yesterday: our sales went up, but the best thing of all was seeing so many young people animated by deep faith", says the shop assistant of a Kentucky Fried Chicken shop.