By Sara Orlos Fernandes
Whatever the weather, weekly market traders roll into busy squares every day and sell their delicacies. There are 152 weekly markets in Berlin – still! The bad news: More and more smaller markets are slowly dying out. The good: Some larger ones are experiencing a real renaissance.
Every Wednesday and Saturday Kristina Otte (55) drives to Mariendorf in her white van. She has been selling cheese and sausage specialties from Austria at her small stand “Käse Tina” for 14 years. The customers here, as in many places, are older. “It’s difficult to attract young people,” says Kristina.
Everyone knows her as “Cheese Tina” and everyone loves her truffle cheese: Kristina Otte (55) stands every week at the weekly market on Mariendorfer Damm and also sells in front of supermarkets. “I love the feeling at the weekly market. The customers are grateful that we are here even in bad weather,” she says. Photo: Parwez
Over the years, the market on Mariendorfer Damm has thinned out to just ten stalls on Wednesdays. “There used to be at least 40 stalls. We want it to be more crowded again and are looking for dealers. We don’t want to give up the market,” says market manager Manuel Thomasschweski (40).
Emptyness at the weekly market on Mariendorfer Damm: The market has been thinned out to ten stalls. It is still popular with regular customers today. Photo: Parwez
Nils Busch-Petersen (60), managing director of the Berlin Trade Association, does not believe that weekly markets will soon disappear from the city completely: “For me, weekly markets are an integral part of Berlin. This is how trading started. There will certainly be fewer in the future, but they will not disappear,” he hopes.
A good mix of suppliers, regional products and a cleverly chosen location are the recipe for success. Markets like the organic market at Kollwitzplatz are well attended and have been experiencing a renaissance among young people for years.
Family has been trading for five generations
The Siegeris stand on Breslauer Platz in Friedenau scores points with regional fruit and vegetables. The family from Glindow (Werder an der Havel) has been on the square for five generations and sells their own harvest.
Stephan Siegeris’ (43) stand is an institution on the market. There’s a lot of chatting, there’s fruit advice and every now and then an extra apple or a handful of potatoes unobtrusively ends up in the bag. “To try,” says the cheerful fruit farmer. Even as a little boy, he stood at the stand with his father.
Stephan Siegeris (43) sells self-harvested fruit and vegetables from the family farm in Glindow. This year we had home-grown sweet potatoes for the first time: “My friends went swimming while I was at the market with my father.” Photo: Parwez
Next door at the car of “Mausi’s Fischhandel” the smell of fried fish has been smelling for 32 years. Son Kenny Krüger (29) from Blankenfelde-Mahlow took over the business from his father. At first he wanted to become a car mechatronics engineer, but he was born with the fish business and the desire to continue it was greater. “I was standing here when I was 6 years old, scaling salmon,” he says.
The Friedenau weekly market has a long tradition. It has been around since 1881. But there is said to be an older one: the weekly market on Breite Straße on the village green in Alt-Pankow is said to be the oldest still existing weekly market in Berlin at 160 years old.
It’s worth stopping by here
- Eco market Kollwitzplatz: Thursdays 12 p.m. to 7 p.m
- Pankow weekly market: Broad Street, Tuesdays 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 3 p.m
- Maybachufer weekly market: Maybachufer Neukölln, Tuesdays and Fridays 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m
- Berlin farmers market: Alt Lübars 12, Reinickendorf, Sundays 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m
- Fat Linda: Kranoldplatz Neukölln, Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m
- Organic market in the Hansaviertel: Fridays 12 p.m. to 6:30 p.m
- Weekly market Schlossplatz Alt-Köpenick: Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m