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Bad news for employees and customers of the last remaining Boon supermarkets in Pétange, Schifflange and Rodange: According to wort.lu and Eldoradio, these supermarkets have closed their doors for good today (Saturday). Wort.lu quotes an employee saying that salaries for December have not been paid yet.

I made it to the Boon supermarket in Schifflange just minutes before closing time, hoping to find my favourite Brazilian softdrink, which used to be available in the Boon supermarket in Luxembourg City. What I found, however, were mostly empty shelves:

If you happen to have an idea where I can get Guaraná Antarctica in Luxembourg, please leave a comment.

BTW, d'Land has a dossier (in French) on the Boon supermarket in Luxembourg City, which was sold and then closed last year (yes, that was the one with the Guaraná).

Update April 11, 2009: Good news, the supermarket in the Galeria Konz (close to the train station) reopened about 3 months ago as a "Supermarché Primavera" (which I only found out after reading this article). They're selling Guaraná in cans and bottles (4,95 EUR for 6 cans).

Richtig praktisch an der von mir verwendeten Blog-Software b2evolution ist die eingebaute Statistikfunktion: Da sieht man z.B., über welche Suchbegriffe Besucher auf mein Blog gelangen.

Eines der beliebtesten Keywords ist "fressnapf", oft auch in Verbindung mit "Öffnungszeiten" oder "Adresse". Gut, ich habe verstanden, ihr wollt nach meinem ersten Beitrag noch mehr Fressnapf, dann schreibe halt ich ein anderes Mal über die bevorstehende Apokalypse und so.

Fressnapf XXL in Luxemburg

Ja, ich habe ihn diesmal gefunden. Nein, die Öffnungszeiten habe ich nicht notiert und auf dem Foto kann man sie auch nicht erkennen. Anfahrt: In Foetz die Einfahrt zu Cora nehmen, dann rechts abbiegen statt geradeaus oder nach links auf den Cora-Parkplatz zu fahren. Hier die genaue Position (genauer als im Fressnapf Marktfinder):

Größere Kartenansicht

Lohnt sich der Besuch? Auf jeden Fall! Für Familien ist der Fressnapf XXL die günstige Alternative zum Ausflug in den Zoo*, ich dagegen habe mich besonders über die große Auswahl an Zoomed-Produkten gefreut: Für die Schildkröten gab's zu Weihnachten ein neues "Turtle Dock" und "Turtle Hut". Beides Produkte, die ich ungern (nochmals) online bestellt hätte, da sie bei schlechter Versandverpackung leicht kaputtgehen.

Fazit: Der Fressnapf XXL ist Klasse, an der Website habe ich aber viel auszusetzen:

• Der XXL-Markt ist im Marktfinder schwer zu finden (als größter Markt sollte er an erster Stelle erscheinen, wenn man Luxemburg als Land auswählt).
• Ausgerechnet beim XXL-Markt fehlen die Öffnungszeiten.
• Die Position auf der Karte stimmt nicht (besonders doof weil mein Navi die Hausnummer nicht kannte).
• Ohne "www." sieht die Website noch bescheidener aus (es erscheint eine EuroDNS Parkingseite).

Aber gut, so kommen mehr Besucher auf mein Blog. Nächstes Mal schreibe ich wieder was zu Saturn.

Update: Auf rtl.lu gibt's einen 50€-Fressnapf-Einkaufsgutschein zu gewinnen, man muss dafür nur an der Abstimmung zum "Hausdéier vum Mount" teilnehmen.

*Geld gespart dank dieses Artikels? 50% des eingesparten Betrags bitte über den "Donate"-Knopf recht abführen... ...ach, wem mache ich was vor, vermutlich verdient die Frau mit dem Schild und Pappbecher auf dem Foto mehr als ich jemals mit diesem Blog einnehmen werde (wobei ich finde, dass sie es mit der Anpassung an das Corporate Design übertrieben hat).

Remember the movie "The Game"*? Transfer the same basic idea to the internet and you get needaproblem.com (German only, so far).

What surprised me is not that there are people who'd like to make their lives more problematic - just replace "problem" with "challenge" - but that they're actually willing to pay for the pleasure. Despite the abundance of challenges available for free on the internet, needaproblem.com has already sold more than 700 problems, including some in the 500,- EUR category. Now all the founders have to do is to set up a website where they charge people for creating problems (wanttomakeaproblem.com?) and they'd have a perpetuum mobile.

This might lead to the end of the world as we know it, which is why I have to step in here and give away problems for free! If that makes you feel bad, use the donation button.

Today's free problems / challenges:

Download Windows 7 beta! That's right, Microsoft's new operating system (beta) is going to be made available to the public today. The problematic part is that they're only going to allow 2.5 million downloads. That, of course, is before you start installing and actually using Windows 7 beta, which should provide you with numerous additional problems, which is why I suggest you donate about 100€ for this problem.

Join the YouTube Symphony Orchestra - the world's first collaborative online orchestra. Do you play an instrument? If yes, just follow the instructions on http://www.youtube.com/symphony and you might end up playing in Carnegie Hall, otherwise enjoy the additional free problem of having to learn an instrument! The deadline is January 28, which puts this problem in the 5000€ category. BTW, the new donation button is in the column on your right.

Don't forget to come back soon for additional free problems!

*Oh great. I thought I was smart for noticing the similarities between this movie from 1997 and a website created last year. Then I googled for the link to FTD.de (FTD's site search is a joke) and also found this article on Zeit.de where one of the founders openly admits the idea comes from "The Game".

Pol Wirtz confirmed this yesterday afternoon on 352.lu:

NMG [New Media Group] had been in intensive talks with larger publishing firms and preparing for a take-over in January, 2009 when it was declared insolvent on December 22nd 2008 and had to stop publishing. I will be meeting with the Curateur on Thursday and would consider it wrong to say anything else at this time. I will report about the progress soon in a blog which will be reachable from this website [352.lu].

In an article from November 20 he had already indicated that NMG was strapped for cash. I also found a PDF file (created on September 30, 2008) with interesting information on government subsidies (which are not available for publications in English) and the failed cooperation with New Media Lux.

AFAIK, the only remaining source for local news in English is station.lu. Warning: If you're easily offended by really bad web design, you might want to learn German or French and read a government-subsidized newspaper instead of visiting their site.

Though I have some doubts (never having had "any profit related goals" won't necessarily make things easier) I hope NMG manage to find a solution which will enable them to continue publishing in some form. Please, don't make me read the chamber of commerce's publication for business related news. It feels like work.

Update March 16, 2009: Business Review and 352 magazine are now back in print after being bought from the the administrator (curateur) by New Media Lux SA. The new website for 352 magazine is 352news.lu. Meanwhile, on 352.lu "friends of 352 with Pol Wirtz, the publication’s founder" are promising to return with a new "well-planned publication".

Note: I only added these pieces of information because a lot of readers arrive at this post through search engines. I'm not involved with any of the projects mentioned here and if there's an "inside story", I don't know it.

Update June 25, 2011: 352 Lux Mag to cease print edition

Phone books don't bother me too much (though this couldn't always be said about the phone book salesmen). This might have something to do with the fact that - unlike in the U.S. - we don't have dozens of phone books foisted upon us. Don't miss the comments, especially if you run a business and pay a lot of money for phone book ads while totally neglecting your website.