Portrait
A fresh food centre in the best location
As it says in the name, the one thing that counts in a fresh food centre is: freshness. And here Hamburg’s wholesale market has a crucial strategic advantage with its excellent location. Directly at the port, with the main station round the corner and the motorway on the doorstep, North Germany’s largest fresh food centre has ideal transport connections. This secures fast transport to and from the market and guarantees that the goods reach the shops as fresh as possible. Via retail, weekly markets and restaurants, the produce passes beyond Hamburg’s borders, into neighbouring Federal States and on to Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.
- Largest fresh food centre in North Germany
- Central location close to the city centre
- Ideal transport connections
- Close to the port and the motorway
- Open 24 hours a day, very good parking facilities
- Large catchment area stretching as far as Scandinavia and Eastern Europe
THE MARKET OVER THE COURSE OF TIME
Fresh food has a long tradition with us
- 962 | First right to hold a market in northern Germany granted by Archbishop Adaldag (936–988).
- 1628 | Multiple explicit rejections of intermediate trading as “inflationary”.
- 1696 – 1721 | Consumers have to buy directly from the producer.
- 1823 | Senator Abendroth advocates intermediate trade.
- 1842 | After the Great Fire of Hamburg, the fruit and vegetable trade for farmers from the Elbe Marshes has to be organised at Hopfenmarkt (hop market). There are 319 sales stands, each costing 8 pfennig per day to rent. The market is held twice on each weekday.
- 1889 | Extension of fruit and vegetable market in the hop market by removing the cells belonging to the butchers’ guild “Schlachterbrüderschaft vom Neuen Schrangen” and the well and by building cellars below the market area.
- 1894 | New sellers admitted to the hop market.
- 1907 | Provisional marketplace opened with landing stages between Meßberg, Deichtor and Alter Wandrahmsbrücke.
- 1911 | Closure of the old markets in Hopfenmarkt and Meßberg and opening of the new Deichtor market.
- 1947 | Resolution passed by the Senate to move the Deichtor market to Hammerbrook.
- 1953 | Law passed on the Hammerbrook implementation plan with designated space for the new fruit and vegetable market.
- 1954 | Senate proposal presented to Hamburg’s parliament for the overall planning of the new Hammerbrook market. “Veiling Hamburg” opens on the new site in Hammerbrook.
- 1955 | Decision in the competition to design the central wholesale market area.
- 1956 | Parliament adopts resolution on market planning and construction of the wholesale market hall.
- 1958 | Start of construction of wholesale market hall.
- 1962 | New wholesale market opens. Closure of Deichtor market, Deichtorplatz converted to traffic hub and wholesale flower market moves to Deichtorhallen.
- 1979 | Purchase of the Lippeltstraße site from Deutsche Bundesbahn to expand the wholesale market site.
- 1981/1982 | Resolution adopted by Senate and parliament to move the wholesale flower market to the site of the wholesale market.
- 1982 | Start of construction for the extension to the wholesale market hall to include a wholesale market for flowers.
- 1984 | New wholesale flower market opens. Closure of wholesale flower market in Deichtorhallen.
- 1994 | The Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg assures companies in Hamburg’s wholesale market that its location will remain the same for the next 30 years.
- 1996 | The hall – one of the most significant concrete shell structures in Hamburg if not in the whole of Germany — is made subject to a preservation order.
- 2002 | The Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg adopts a resolution that Hamburg’s wholesale market will stay at its present location until 2034.
- 2006 | The first Food Market opens in the wholesale market hall as a collaboration with the magazine “Der Feinschmecker”.
- 2008 | Hamburg’s wholesale market receives the “Market Innovation Award” from the WUWM.
- 2009 | Start of extensive refurbishment measures.
- 2010 | Conclusion of concrete repairs in the wholesale market hall (ceiling/outer facade).
- 2011 | Continuation of refurbishment measures.
- 2012 | 50-year anniversary of location. Confirmation of the location until 2034 as Senate waives its right of special termination.
- 2013/2014 | Installation of a multi-functional theatre by Mehr! Theater Hamburg GmbH in a roughly 4,000 m² section of the wholesale market hall.
- 2015 | Opening of Mehr! Theater
- 2018 | Wholesale market opens its doors to visitor groups.
- 2019 | Charging points for delivery vehicles come online.
- 2020 | Reopening Mehr! Theatre with "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" after refurbishment.