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Do you already know the CORE in Oldenburg?

My husband Jona and I have been living in downtown Oldenburg for almost 3 years and something that annoyed us from the start, despite the central location near the city center and the train station: There was an almost empty department store with lots of free space at the beginning of our doorstep Downtown and left a lot of opportunity to have a nice place for a coffee, to get together, to have events and to work.

Just a few weeks ago, the CORE opened at precisely this place.

Stylish photo location with a view of the Lappan, places to relax, come together and work – all of this connects the CORE in Oldenburg, Germany.

What does CORE offer?

CORE is a co-working space in the heart of Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany (yes, there is also another Oldenburg in Germany and the US, too) right between Lappan and the horse market. This can also be easily reached by bus or train. It takes about 10 minutes to get there from the train station, but of course you can also take the bus, e-scooter or folding bike.

• There are 8 meeting rooms that can be booked every hour,
• CORE offers several soundproofed telephone booths in which you can make phone calls undisturbed without disturbing others in the workspace. (Because, to be honest, I can get a little louder during phone calls and don’t want to bother others. Normally in a co-working situation I go outside the door without such an opportunity.)
• The workspace has also a tea kitchen including tea, coffee and water. Of course, members of the CORE do not pay anything for these drinks.
• Office space that can be rented for at least one month
• Individual workstations that can be booked either as a fixed desk or a flex desk under different tariffs

In addition, the CORE also offers an event area that has not yet been used very much due to the current pandemic. Co-working and gastronomy are already open. And everyone can visit the gastronomy on the ground floor.

Who doesn’t get sentimental feelings from an old German phone booth like the one next to my parents house when my father had no cell phone but one of these awesome pages for his work? Here at CORE, the phone booth also serves the purpose of making phone calls undisturbed without disturbing others.

CO-Working at the CORE

Especially in times of COVID in 2020, many had to work from home. Everyone like my husband and me who was forced to work from home last year will know this: For the separation of work and leisure, it is pleasant to have a place to work that is not in your own home many distraction opportunities and perhaps a lack of space for undisturbed work. At least we had to redesign our apartment to offer two places to work instead of one, cause before COVID, I worked at trains and cafes most of the time while my husband worked at university and libraries.

In addition, the CORE offers exchange and networking with other self-employed, entrepreneurs and employees. Many different professions come together. Everyone brings their own experiences and perspectives. The conversations and exchanges with others who also work in the office can inspire and stimulate your own creativity. Perhaps you look at processes and your own approach differently and learn something new, create opportunities for cooperation or find a service provider for a problem directly on site in CORE.

Everyone who has been in the home office last year knows how stressful it can be to work from home, as there are many factors that can distract you. Here at CORE you are provided with drinks, with a quiet atmosphere to work and manage to be productive instead of procrastinating than at home, where you can still keep yourself from work with washing up, cleaning and tidying up.

Is there a target group for CORE?

There is no core target group at this location. Everyone is welcome. This includes students, freelancers, companies and everyone who likes the concept. A good mix of different people creates creativity and drives it forward. Noa said aptly: “Oldenburg can also offer something Berlin.” And of course he means the creative and inspiring scene in Berlin.

As the wife of a man who is currently still studying, I find this opportunity very important, because at the moment the university is not yet back to normal operations, there is not always free space in the university library for workplaces and individual work cubicles are fully booked most of the time. For concentrated work, using a workspace instead of any café or working from home is a really sensible investment when it comes to something like theses or other work-intensive projects.

The CORE is not only used for individual work at workplaces, it also serves as an exchange among each other and the opportunity to network with other self-employed people or companies in Oldenburg.

Story of CORE Oldenburg so far

The opening took place on a small scale due to the pandemic, of course, and events were postponed at that time. However, in the last few weeks there have already been some promotions in the catering sector and nice opportunities for sociable evenings and promotions where you can regularly stay up to date via the CORE Instagram story.

The way to the opening was a little longer than planned due to the current global situation, reported Noa from CORE. Supply chains were partially interrupted, which led to minor delays and therefore they were able to open later than planned. As already mentioned, the building stood empty for a long time. The shell has remained the same. However, the ventilation, lighting and general electronics have been renewed.

During the construction phase, the opportunity to generate national attention for the project, for example through contributions from the Frankfurter Rundschau or the ZDF, where they appeared in a documentary.

How did the idea of building the CORE in this part of Oldenburg come about?

The investors came up with the idea for this project. Some of them come from the region and have regional ties. That part of downtown beyond the building hadn’t been busy in years. This is how the idea of ​​co-working and a market hall emerged as a lighthouse project to bring this part of the city center back to life. The focus should be on Oldenburg as a city.

The concept behind it should not only represent the new world of work with flexible workplaces and working hours, but also appeal to those who e.g. B. want to work outside of the home office or the actual office. And the focus is not only on co-working, but on the one hand the already mentioned revitalization of inner cities and urban development, which is courageously included in this concept.

Because there are also large department stores in other inner cities that are no longer in use. There, too, the question arises: what will happen to these old department stores?

Crowdinvesting project for the CORE Oldenburg

Another special feature is crowd investing, which is used in addition to the capital of the investor group. Anyone can co-finance the project with a minimum investment of € 500. Then they receive their payment on December 31, 2025.

A person can invest a maximum of € 3,000. At the moment you can still participate, because you can still invest until the amount of € 300,000 is reached. The interest rate is 3.5% per year. Through these local investors, the building is also financially connected to people from the city.

Gastro in CORE Oldenburg

The market hall on the ground floor is freely accessible from the street. It is accessible to everyone and has already developed into a popular meeting place in recent weeks. You can relax and enjoy coffee, food and other drinks. There are currently 7 different restaurants: Kaffee Käthe, Saigon Corner, Schröder`s FINE BBQ, Ehsan arabicstreetfood, Deliciously good food, Mrs Pan and Holy Taco. There is also the Core Bar where you will find a large selection of drinks.