What exactly is the hinterland here? Does the Nieuwstraat/Neustraße function as a kind of centre to both Herzogenrath and Kerkrade? Or does it create another centre – a third one? What is clear is that both towns do not just ‘fizzle out’ here ‘at the edge’. The street has become a destination of its own – also because of the big consumer electronics retailer and two big discount supermarkets. Yet at the same time there is a gay bathhouse,and a brothel, activities generally associated with the hinterland – a bit tucket away or hidden.