The Gold on the Asphalt

On the way to Hamburg city centre on a December morning: beneath the high-rise buildings, the Hamburger Meile sparkles in an ambitious attempt to make the Christmas star look old – a shopping centre for all occasions, except perhaps good taste and a healthy bank balance. The shopping centre is located in the Barmbek-Süd district and was opened in spring 1970 as the Hamburger Straße shopping centre. In the 1970s, with a floor space of around 50,000 m², it was considered the largest inner-city shopping centre in Germany. At that time, people were still in awe of this cathedral of consumerism; today, they are more surprised that they are not allowed to stay there for free.