Neustrelitzer wins IHK prize: Second look revolutionizes the city center!

Neustrelitzer wins IHK prize: Second look revolutionizes the city center!

Exciting news from Neustrelitz! Michaela Seliga was recently awarded the prize in the “Success Area Old Town 2025” regional competition in the “New Startup” category. Her second-hand shop “Zweite Blick”, which is located on Strelitzer Straße, attracts the attention of many customers, especially through its innovative upcycling workshops. The Neubrandenburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry honored the award winners in a ceremony that took place simultaneously in Neubrandenburg, Rostock and Schwerin. The focus here was on creative concepts to revitalize the city center, and Seliga was able to hold its own excellently.

The aim of the competition is to promote the innovative strength and creativity of local companies. Michaela Seliga was encouraged by one of her customers, who works at the IHK, to take part in the tender. At first she was skeptical because her daily business took up a lot of time. But she ultimately decided to take part and received support with her application. The jury then visited her shop and was very impressed with the business idea.

The award winners at a glance

Other companies were also able to shine in this competition. Alexander Veszely's delicatessen shop “Käse Krämer” was awarded for the best business development. In the concepts category, Isabella and Tom Wichmann received the prize for their creative idea of ​​a family café that is transformed into a bar in the evenings. Their approaches show that creating a lively city center can be done in a variety of ways, not only in Neustrelitz, but also in neighboring cities. The second-hand shop “My Vint” from Rostock and the digital physiotherapy practice Fis:jo from Schwerin also received awards in the start-up category.

The winners can look forward to prize money of 1,000 euros, which is not only a nice reward but also valuable support for future projects. The competition has been running for several years and has produced many innovative business approaches that clearly underline the motto “Inner cities worth experiencing with a future”. This year, new evaluation standards were also introduced: The sustainability aspect and the commitment to experience-oriented city centers are now particularly honored, as the IHK announced in a press release.

A look forward

The next exciting round is already in the starting blocks: the state awards ceremony, where the regional winners will compete for the overall title, is planned for autumn 2025. This means that the winners of the regional competitions still have enough time to prepare for the challenges and opportunities that the next stage brings. With this competition, the IHKs in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are once again showing how important it is to keep the city centers lively and attractive.

The competition ran from March 1st to April 30th, and the jury had the opportunity to visit the applicants at their locations in May and June. In total, over 60 companies received applications from 24 city centers. Even if only a few entrepreneurs are optimistic in a recent survey, this initiative clearly shows that both creativity and entrepreneurial drive are very popular in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. If you would like to read the details of the regulations and tenders, you can find all the information on the IHK website at neubrandenburg.ihk.de.

For all those who are still looking for inspiration to become part of this competition with their own ideas, now is the perfect time to think about creative concepts. So let’s look forward to future developments and changes worth experiencing in our city centers!

For further background information on the prize winners and the competition Strelitzius comprehensive. Likewise offers NDR interesting insights into the perspective of the actors involved and IHK offers a detailed overview of the evaluation criteria.