The ornate wrought-iron gate at Frankfurter Strasse 10 opened for the first time on November 30, revealing a charming backyard. For four days, the mini department store “Often” offered high-quality design products and international cuisine in the former location of a hardware store that used the staircase for measuring goods. In addition, there were personal shopping consultations, a live concert by singer-songwriter Julie Kuhl, magic for children, and cozy beats in the courtyard. Not surprisingly, the atmosphere reminded some people of Berlin, Amsterdam or Vienna. But the fact that there was an unusual place with a hand-picked assortment in the center of Offenbach was. The 14 regional exhibitors could not complain about the interest in their products from the fields of fashion, art, handicrafts, jewelry and design. The results were positive and promising: at the end of the fourth day, the organizers counted more than 4,200 visitors.
Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke: “Fortunately, the premiere was a success. With Often, we want to kick off the revitalization of Frankfurter Strasse. The mini department store was the first stop on the Test Space Avenue, which is designed to give people more reasons to visit Offenbach’s city center and to show retailers its potential. Because this potential is clearly there – the Often attracted attention with its quality, diversity and curated cultural program, introduced the location and the building to a broad public and interested retailers, and created an atmosphere that needs to be continued and established from here. After these four days, it makes perfect sense to continue with the strategy and use the Testraum-Allee to give impulses for an attractive city center, which will benefit businesses, owners and citizens alike”.
This was also made possible by the uncomplicated and interdepartmental cooperation: in addition to the building inspectorate, public order office and fire department, Agentur Mitte, which is part of the City of Offenbach’s business development department, also worked closely with the Offenbach Offensiv e.V. association and the Frankfurt project developer vav Fischer-Bumiller on the “Often” pilot project. The latter recently acquired the property at Frankfurter Strasse 10 and is delighted with the cooperation: “Germany’s city centers have long since stopped running ‘as if by themselves’. Since the internet, the question of location has been posed in a new and different way. That’s why I’m delighted about the City of Offenbach’s initiative, which will benefit everyone in the long term. “Often” was a great success that we can now build on.”
The first talks with interested tradespeople took place over the weekend. “The positive response gives us hope,” explains Božica Niermann, Head of Offenbach Economic Development. “There were over 20 expressions of interest. We will evaluate these and expand on them in the next step. Our declared aim is to further develop the location and establish sustainable retail, creative gastronomy or services at Frankfurter Strasse 10 on a permanent basis.”
Frank Achenbach, Managing Director of Offenbach offensiv e.V., adds: “A spirit of optimism was palpable in ‘Often’. Customers and visitors were surprised at what is possible in Offenbach’s city center. Homeowners saw what can be done with a property. Last but not least, potential operators of new, attractive offers were shown the customer potential Offenbach has to offer. This makes me confident that this is also possible in other places in the city center and that new entrepreneurial concepts have a future in the city center.”
The Testraum-Allee is one of a total of 16 future projects from the city center future concept and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025. 200,000 euros have been earmarked for its implementation in each of the next two years.
More information on the future concept for the city center:
“What is happening in city centers is exactly what experts had predicted: Retail is having an increasingly difficult time and if we want to preserve it, we need to create many other and new reasons to come to the city center. That is why we have developed the future concept for the city center together with the people of Offenbach and the experts from the Hamburg office urbanista and defined 16 future projects to revitalize the city center,” said Mayor Schwenke.
The future concept for the city center includes ideas and offers to strengthen the heart of the city as a place for new ideas, experiences and exchange between citizens. “Anyone who walks through the city with open eyes will see how the city center is also suffering from this tough change,” Schwenke continued. “Not everything is as shiny as it used to be, and we in the town hall know that too. Our aim is to keep as much retail as possible, which is why we need to support the remaining retailers. But it is also absolutely clear that things will never be the same again. We are therefore fighting with all our might to mitigate the impact on the city center and to contribute to a new city center with new projects. The first projects have already begun and more will follow. Now that we have more staff resources at Agentur Mitte, we will accelerate implementation.”
Source: City Offenbach
Copyright Pictures: Urban Media Project
