Berlin Notes: Shopping

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Following a successful test opening last year in the Friedrichstraße's Q110, Japanese lifestyle store Muji is to open a permanent branch early in 2008 on Mitte's trendy Hackescher Markt. The 380m² store, to be located at Hackescher Markt 1 (currently occupied by the British Council ), will be the third Muji store to open in Germany after Munich and Düsseldorf. It will have two sales floors and carry an extensive range of MUJI products.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Today (Sunday, October 7) is one of the four verkaufsoffene Sonntage this year, when "normal" shops are allowed to open. Many larger stores and malls will be opening, usually from 1pm to 6pm.

For shopping possibilites on normal Sundays, see our page Out-of-hours shopping.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

It's one of West Berlin's retail traditions: the shopping areas around Ku'damm, Tauentzienstrasse and Breidtscheidplatz hold a bi-annual shopping evening, when shops open until midnight, timed to coincide with the dates the clocks are changed (from summertime to wintertime, or vice-versa).

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Next Wednesday (26th September) Berlin will get its second new shopping centre this month. Following hard on the heels of Alexa, the new Wilmersdorfer Arcaden will be opening its doors on Charlottenburg's Wilmersdorfer Straße shopping street. The Wilmersdorfer Arcaden will have around 100 shops, cafes and restaurants, and an unusual main mall three storeys high running in a 180 metre long curve.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

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As I was in the area late last night, I wandered by the new Alexa shopping centre which was supposed to be opening at midnight. I was expecting it to be busy - electronics superstore MediaMarkt has been splashing its heavily discounted opening offers over the whole of Berlin for the last couple of weeks - but I wasn't expecting the crowds to be backing up across the street to Alexanderplatz (the police had even cordoned off part of the road). The picture on the right (click to enlarge) shows what it looked like just before midnight, and this is a video from someone who made it inside:

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The new Alexa shopping centre on the south side of Alexanderplatz is due to open tomorrow (Wednesday, September 12th) at 8am. Electronics superstore MediaMarkt will be opening what will be its largest store at midnight.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The long overdue reforms to Germany's shop opening hours at the end of 2006 brought with them, in Berlin at least, an odd side-effect: due to either an oversight or bad wording, Flea Markets in Berlin are no longer allowed to open onpublic holidays. This is particularly stupid because those days are particularly popular with visitors and vendors alike.

However, it's just been announced that the law will be modified soon, and sanity will prevail.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

The next scheduled general Sunday opening (verkaufsoffene Sonntag) is May 20. However, for some reason (which I haven't been able to establish, but I don't think it's an April Fool), some shops and malls will be open this coming Sunday, April 1. Places opening include the Ring-Center in Friedrichshain and all three IKEA branches in Berlin.

Monday, October 2, 2006

The hottest news from Berlin's Flohmarkt scene...

There's a new flea market near Berlin-Gesundbrunnen station; see here for details: Flea Market at Gesundbrunnen Station.

On tomorrow's public holiday (Tuesday, 3rd October), the Antikmarkt Berlin-Ostbahnhof is holding a "Riesenflohmarkt" (mega flea market) open to private traders; over 400 are expected. Some more info in German here.

Thursday, September 7, 2006

One brand sadly lacking from Berlin's wide range of shops is the Japanese "no name" lifestyle brand Muji. Although they've had shops in London and Paris for a few years, and opened the first German store in Düsseldorf in November 2005, their eastwards expansion has not yet reached Berlin. They're testing the market though: the Deutsche Bank's "show branch" at Friedrichstrasse 180 (U-Bahn: Stadtmitte) is hosting a temporary sales exhibition until November 4 featuring over 500 items.