Last Updated on October 29, 2026 by

On Saturday 19 September, c. 3,000 people came to Elsterwerdaer Platz at Biesdorf Center in Berlin for the Vereinstag, a day of local association stands, stage performances and activities held to mark World Children’s Day. It was the fourth year in a row the event ran at the centre. Around 25 local clubs and organisations took part, and 600 people were directly involved as club representatives, performers, and volunteers.

The day sits within Nachbarschaf(f)t Zukunft, Greenman OPEN’s community initiative at the centre, formerly known as Beezdorf. Now in its fourth year, it puts vacant space in OPEN’s retail centres to use for social activities, bringing neighbours, schools and local clubs in through workshops and cultural events, and the Vereinstag is one of the points in the year where that work is most visible.

The district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf, in a statement to Greenman, described Biesdorf Center as having moved from a property with visible vacancy to a stabilised hybrid shopping centre, and as an important local supply hub at Elsterwerdaer Platz, with grocery tenants including Kaufland and Bio Company among its anchors. It also noted that, in response to the wider pressure on traditional retail, the centre is increasingly being shaped as a place where the neighbourhood meets, not only a place to shop.

The centre’s own visitor data adds some further insight: customer frequency on 19 September was the highest of any Saturday at Biesdorf Center so far this year, Frequency has also been noticeably higher in the weeks since. We cannot say how much of that comes from the Vereinstag. Some of the 19 September figure is the event’s own visitors, and the return from the summer lull plays a part. A single day does not change an occupancy rate or a rent roll, and we are not claiming that it does. What the numbers do show is how many people a grocery-anchored centre can bring together when it opens its square to the neighbourhood.

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