|
Designer fashion and outstanding trends, department stores and small boutiques, international vibes and local designers, Berlin offers a wide variety of shopping facilities. We have collected tips for everyone listed below.
|
KaDeWe
The largest and most magnificent department store on continental Europe invites you to shop and window shop.
Its six floors are home to the famous food department, a conservatory restaurant under the roof, the well-known glass panorama lift and countless departments selling everything anyone could possibly want to buy. The store, built in 1906 to plans by Emil Schaudt, drew the shopping crowds in from the very start. During the Second World War, the building was almost completely destroyed, but it was opened again in 1950 and completely rebuilt six years later. In the 1950s, the Department Store of the West became the symbol of the market economy. Having undergone repeated redesigning and expansion, its appearance is as brilliant as ever.
|
|
Friedrichstraße
Friedrichstraße is the most legendary street in the whole city and combines the tradition of the "Golden Twenties" with the architecture of the New Berlin. In the Twenties, the 3.5 km long street was the location for pleasure palaces, cafés, theatres and variety theatres such as the famous "Wintergarten".
After the division of the city, the Wall also cut through Friedrichstraße, where the famous »Checkpoint Charlie was located at the border of the districts of Kreuzberg and Mitte and thus at the border of East and West Berlin. The train station at Friedrichstraße, which has recently undergone complete renovation, remains rather more tragically in the minds of many East and West Berliners as the border crossing point between the two Germanys. The former customs hall, known as the "Tränenpalast" or "Palace of Tears", now hosts arts and entertainment events. Further north, the Friedrichstadtpalast offers revue theatre of international standing.
On the southern half of Friedrichstraße there are countless new buildings, including the Friedrichstadtpassagen, with boutiques, offices and restaurants featuring the latest in architectural design. Shopping and window-shopping in the French fashion is the attraction of the Galeries Lafayette, located in the Quartier 207: on offer are a range of French specialties, particularly in the delicatessen. The impressive design created by the architect Jean Nouvel boasts a transparent glass façade and an atrium which tapers towards the bottom. The connecting Quartier 206, which is home to the boutiques of countless top designers, boasts an extravagant Art Déco style. Not only visitors but also the employees from the new, chic offices, agencies and media centers all enjoy the urban spirit and New York flair of the new Friedrichstraße.
|
Potsdamer Platz Arkaden
At the new centre of Berlin, the Potsdamer Platz, a new shopping mall has been built. Potsdamer Platz Arkaden combine shops of textiles, design objects, shoes, etc. at three floors in an architecturally modern atmosphere.
Right beside the shopping centre many cinemas, the musical theatre and the casino are tempting to extend a stay at Potsdamer Platz until midnight.The museums of the Kulturforum and the Philharmony are nearby just as well.
|
|
KuDamm
The Kurfürstendamm is the most popular boulevard in Berlin, among Berliners and visitors alike. From the Gedächtniskirche, it stretches for 3.5 km right out to Halensee, where the exclusive villa districts of West Berlin begin.
In the lively upper part of Kurfürstendamm and its extension, Tauentzienstraße, there are countless department stores, fashion chain stores and other stores. The lower part is quieter: here, designer stores reside in magnificent turn-of- the-century buildings. Between 1883 and 1886 Kurfürstendamm was laid out as a boulevard with bridle path, and opulent developments arose along it. In the Twenties, it became the meeting point of Berlin's intellectuals, with countless theatres, cafés and nightclubs. In 1913, the "Marmorhaus" became the first film theatre, but like many other cinemas on Kurfürstendamm it was forced to close in recent years.
Badly damaged in the Second World War, Kurfürstendamm was cleared and redeveloped in the Fifties, with tower blocks and terraced buildings. It is still the Berlin's showpiece boulevard, and new buildings are appearing on it once again. 2001 will see the opening of the new Kranzlereck – the corner previously inhabited by the famous Café Kranzler – with offices, stores and a new café in the traditional rotunda with its red-and-white striped marquee roof. The Kudamm Corner at Joachimsthaler Straße, a constructional faux pas from the Sixties, has been demolished, and a new building is being constructed on the site. At Lehniner Platz stands the Schaubühne, a theatre building in the expressive style of the Twenties. In the quiet side streets such as Fasanenstraße, the most exclusive shopping street in the city, there are many smaller, exclusive boutiques and cafés, housed in buildings dating from the turn of the previous century.
|
|
New Kranzlereck
The new-built Kranzler-Eck is catching everyone's eye not only just because of its daring architectural style. Around the preserved legendary Café Kranzler with its striking marquee of the fifties a glass-made tower block of modern design was constructed. The patio is decorated with countless aviaries and forms the location of the subsidiaries of well-known labels or small boutiques which have moved into the Kranzlereck to change it to a famous shopping meeting point.
Kurfürstendamm 9-24, Charlottenburg
|
|
Europa Center
The Europa Center is the classic amongst the westernly situated shopping-centers of Berlin. Diagonally across the Kaiser-Wilhelm memorial church almost 100 shops and numerous restaurants invite you to discover this shopping mall.
A spacious cinema complex is situated as well in the 123,5 m high building, opened in 1965. The upper floors house a lot of service complexes.
|
|
Flea Market
Each weekend many flea-markets invite you to look for great bargains. The most popular one is the Kunst- und Trödelmarkt on Straße des 17. Juni, but also along the Kupfergraben near the Museumsinsel there are many stalls with art objects, books and records.
|
|
|
