Neglected squares, fallow land, vacant shops – in a time of increasing Internet trade, this is reality in many rural town centres. To improve the situation in the Lower Saxon town of Ostercappeln, local dealers and property owners founded the Ostercappeln department store. As a business community, they now work together with local authorities to market the village uniformly as a shopping destination and are reviving vacant shops, promoting business development, adding parking spaces, and are involved in the design and care of public squares. This is helping secure jobs and benefitting the whole community.