Holsten-Galerie Neumünster

Holsten-Galerie Neumünster is a shopping centre in the centre of Neumünster, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It stands next to the Großflecken, the main central square, and close to Neumünster's main railway station. The centre opened on 15 October 2015 and offers roughly 90 specialist shops, cafés, restaurants and service businesses across a sales area of about 22,800 m². It is managed by ECE Projektmanagement, the Hamburg-based shopping-centre operator, and its accessibility contact address uses the ece.com domain. The centre presents itself as a place for "Wohlfühlshopping" — feel-good shopping — in northern Germany. Its tenant mix spans fashion, beauty, technology, food and services, with names such as Apollo-Optik, Bijou Brigitte, Camp David/Soccx, Deichmann, Douglas, H&M and Media Markt listed on its website. Alongside retail, the centre provides a broad set of services: a pharmacy, a doctors' building, lifts, baby-changing rooms, accessible toilets and parking, a bus connection, a centre management office, gift cards, a defibrillator, a playground, e-parking, cash machines, bicycle parking, dog-friendly access, charging stations, massage chairs, lockers, tax-free shopping, toilets and Wi-Fi. The site has a layered history. Until 1990 it was occupied by the cloth factory C. Sager Söhne & Co., which gave Neumünster its reputation as a textile town and gave the surrounding Sager-Viertel its name. Another part of the site was the former Courier-Haus at the Gänsemarkt, the publishing house of the Holsteinischer Courier newspaper, where Hans Fallada once worked. In 1997 the entrepreneur Uli Wachholtz acquired the former factory site; it was used for parking, offices and events before ECE developed the shopping centre. The architecture deliberately references this past: the railway-facing block has a tightly gridded brick façade recalling the industrial era, while the head building at the Gänsemarkt reinterprets the plain post-war modernism of the former Courier-Haus with a light, clearly structured plaster façade and generous glazing. Today the Holsten-Galerie functions as a central retail and service destination for Neumünster and the surrounding region, with regular opening hours, occasional Sunday shopping days and seasonal promotions such as mid-season sales and gift-card offers.

The site of today's Holsten-Galerie has a long industrial and publishing history. Until 1990 it was the location of the cloth factory C. Sager Söhne & Co., which gave Neumünster its reputation as a textile town and gave the surrounding Sager-Viertel its name. Carl Severin Sager is said to have founded a dyeing and finishing works in 1828; after converting production to a modern steam engine in 1847, the company gradually became a pure cloth factory. A fire destroyed the factory building in 1858, but Carl Sager's sons and son-in-law rebuilt it and took over the business. With 108 employees it was then considered the largest cloth factory in Neumünster. A further major fire was another setback, but the factory continued to develop and by 1912 employed 248 workers. During the Second World War bombing left only 35 percent of the works standing; the factory was rebuilt again and machines were dug out of the rubble and put back into operation. The cloth factory remained part of Neumünster until 1990, when the company filed for insolvency. Impressions of that era and the history of the textile industry in Neumünster can still be seen at the Museum für Tuch und Technik in Neumünster. Another part of the site's history is the former Courier-Haus at the Gänsemarkt, the seat of the newspaper publisher of the Holsteinischer Courier. In 1945, shortly before the end of the Second World War, an enemy bomber hit Neumünster's city centre; the Courier-Haus was also hit and heavily damaged. The publisher family Wachholtz and their staff did not give up, cleared the machines and rebuilt their workplace. In 1949 the Courier-Haus at the Gänsemarkt was able to reopen; until then the newspaper operation had continued provisionally in another building. On 1 October 1949 the first Holsteinischer Courier after the wartime destruction appeared. In 1950 the son of Karl Wachholtz took over the business, expanded it and further extended the Courier-Haus. Various conversions followed until 1980, when the Courier-Passage was created. Literature history was also written in the area of the former Courier-Haus: Hans Fallada worked in Neumünster at the Holsteinischer Courier and was inspired to write the book "Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben". The memorial plaque in honour of Hans Fallada was reinstalled at the entrance of the Holsten-Galerie on the Gänsemarkt side to remember him. In 1997 the entrepreneur Uli Wachholtz acquired the former factory site. The area was then used as a car park and for office units. In the newly created Sager-Viertel, markets and events were to be held regularly. The daily weekly market, however, did not become established there. Some larger events were held in the event hall and achieved greater success, such as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in 2003, but the actual idea was always the creation of a shopping centre. ECE saw the Neumünster location as suitable for this. For the construction, various plots had to be combined. The Courier-Haus had been designed for office use by the newspaper operation, so it was difficult to integrate its small-scale division of space into a shopping centre. The low storey heights of the individual floors also stood in the way of use for large-scale retail. This led to the decision to completely rebuild this building as well. The site on which today's Holsten-Galerie stands first had to be converted as part of an area redevelopment. The area of the former cloth factory facing the station therefore received a tightly gridded brick façade that recalls the industrial past. In urban planning terms, the Holsten-Galerie is subordinate here to the church of St. Maria-St. Vicelin. The parsonage and church are framed by a carefully structured brick façade that runs in a wide arc to Fabrikstraße. The cross-connection from Fabrikstraße to Kaiserstraße, which crosses the shopping street, received a clinker brick floor. Here the continuation of the now built-over Fabrikstraße and at the same time the original settlement boundary of Neumünster can be recognised. The head building of the Holsten-Galerie at the Gänsemarkt, on the other hand, reinterprets the plain post-war modernism of the former Courier-Haus. It follows the volume, architecture and material of the predecessor building. It therefore received a clearly structured, light plaster façade. The modern and generous glazing, however, allows a view of the Gänsemarkt and the pond — all the way over to the Großflecken. On the pond shore, the former small-scale plot parcelling remains legible through the distinctive façade structure and follows the course of the pond with a slight curve. The roofscape there deliberately steps down towards the lower neighbouring buildings. The Holsten-Galerie celebrated its opening on 15 October 2015. It has around 90 specialist shops, cafés, restaurants and service businesses on a sales area of 22,800 m². It is managed by ECE Projektmanagement, and its accessibility contact address uses the ece.com domain.

• 2015

  The Holsten-Galerie Neumünster opened on 15 October 2015 with around 90 shops on 22,800 m².

• 2003

  The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival took place in the event hall on the site.

• 1997

  Entrepreneur Uli Wachholtz acquired the former factory site, later used for parking, offices and events.

• 1990

  The cloth factory C. Sager Söhne & Co. filed for insolvency, ending textile production on the site.

• 1980

  After various conversions, the Courier-Passage was created.

• 1950

  Karl Wachholtz's son took over the publishing business and expanded the Courier-Haus.

• 1949

  The Courier-Haus at the Gänsemarkt reopened; on 1 October 1949 the first Holsteinischer Courier after the war appeared.

• 1945

  An enemy bomber hit Neumünster's city centre, heavily damaging the Courier-Haus at the Gänsemarkt.

• 1912

  The cloth factory C. Sager Söhne & Co. employed 248 workers.

• 1858

  A fire destroyed the cloth factory building; it was rebuilt by Carl Sager's sons and son-in-law.

• 1847

  Sager converted production to a modern steam engine, gradually turning the company into a pure cloth factory.

• 1828

  Carl Severin Sager is said to have founded a dyeing and finishing works on the later Holsten-Galerie site.

Feel-good shopping centre in the centre of Neumünster, combining retail, gastronomy and services with a broad range of accessibility and family-friendly amenities.

• Centre gift cards (50 € and 100 €)

• Retail shops including Apollo-Optik, Bijou Brigitte, Camp David/Soccx, Deichmann, Douglas, H&M and Media Markt

• Gastronomy and cafés

• Services such as pharmacy, doctors' building, tax-free shopping and Wi-Fi

1. 1Holsten-Galerie Neumünster | Wohlfühlshopping im echten Norden!holsten-galerie.de
2. 2Services | Holsten-Galerie Neumünsterholsten-galerie.de
3. 3Über uns | Holsten-Galerie Neumünsterholsten-galerie.de
4. 4Barrierefreie Services | Holsten-Galerie Neumünsterholsten-galerie.de
5. 5Holsten-Galerie Neumünsterwikidata.org
6. 6Holsten-Galerie Neumünsterde.wikipedia.org