The Centro mall is the one place the city of Oberhausen is famous for nowadays. The shopping and entertainment center, with its 250 stores and restaurants, sits next to a marina with a promenade and right by Germany's largest Sea Life Aquarium.
The complex was built in the mid-1990s on a site where 32,000 people had previously worked in the steel industry, which was once a cornerstone of Europe's manufacturing base.
"Thanks to the Centro, we've created almost as many jobs again, but they're all in the service sector, where people don't earn as much," Oberhausen City Treasurer Apostolos Tsalastras said.City Treasurer Apostolos Tsalastras says time is running out for his cityImage: DW/Sabine Kinkartz
Demise of the Ruhr region
The average income in the city is now among the lowest in Germany: "The gross domestic product we generate here is also one of the lowest nationwide," the treasurer admits.
