Kamen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

🇩🇪 Kamen is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the district Unna.

Geography Kamen is situated at the east end of the Ruhr area, approximately 10 km south-west of Hamm and 25 km north-east of Dortmund.

Neighbouring cities, towns, and municipalities • Bergkamen • Hamm • Bönen • Unna • Dortmund • Lünen

Division of the town The town of Kamen consists of the following 6 districts: • Heeren-Werve • Methler • Kamen (city centre) • Rottum • Derne • Südkamen.

Economy and Infrastructure A technology and business incubator is located on the site of the former Monopol colliery. A bicycle dealer, a piano restoration and trading house, a computer construction and trading company, a specialist in stage sound technology and several food markets have also settled. There is also a wholesaler for interior design in the area.

Kamen is home to some large companies and institutions. One of the first IKEA branches in Germany was already opened here in the 1970s and moved to a large area east of the A1 motorway in 2005. The American company 3M operates a production facility for dressing materials and wound care products (440 employees) in Kamen. 18] Near the train station are the companies of the Zahnradfabrik Lechleitner, the Kaltwalzwerk Gülde (150 employees) and the company Paul Vahle, a manufacturer of individual energy and data transmission systems for mobile industrial applications with around 500 employees. In Kamen-Methler, around 150 employees produce office supplies for the company Durable.

In 2016, a shopping centre, the Kamen Quadrat, was opened on the site of the Karstadt department store, which was abandoned and demolished years ago, in a new building, in which a large food retailer, a drugstore and various boutiques are located.

The Städtische Sparkasse, founded in 1857, is headquartered in the city center. In 2013, Sparkasse Kamen merged with Sparkasse Unna. The institute is now operating under the name Sparkasse UnnaKamen. Commerzbank and Volksbank are represented in Kamen with branches. In addition to shops for daily needs, boutiques, photo dealers, small gastronomy and ice cream parlors, there is also a large electronics retailer in the city center.

Transport Kamen is maybe most known because of the nearby highway crossing, the Kamener Kreuz. The north-south directed A1 meets the east-west directed A2; due to the importance of both highways the crossing is prone for traffic jams.

Sports The village Kamen-Methler is well known for its football training camps. The German football team prepared themselves for the 1990 World Cup win in Kamen-Methler. During the soccer world championship 2006 in Germany the Spanish football team lived there.