Vienna Shopping

E.D. Witte just by the Naschmarkt fresh produce market enjoys a practical monopoly as a fancy dress supplier - and could well be a popular destination for people wanting fancy dress costumes at Euro 2008, which will be partially held in Vienna. Their range is vast - all types of costumes are available for all age groups - for men and women. They also have a lot of extra stock for special events (e.g. Halloween) and have a large range of sizes of costumes available.

What to buy: I would recommend a cardinal's outfit - it seems very useful for getting a seat in the underground! :)

What to pay: Adult costumes start from about EUR 15 and most are around EUR 30-40.

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Shortly after our arrival in Vienna, we were wandering down the Bräunerstrasse when Pauline was grabbed by this giant bear. Well, that’s her story anyway - just as well it’s stuffed!

The bear proved to be outside the Vienna shop for Steiff Bears. Steiff, it seems, is a German company which has been making stuffed toys for over a century: I’m reliably informed that their earlier stuffed toys now are quite collectable.

Of course, if you’re looking for a “Travel Mascot” (see “Customs” tip), the Steiff shop or website may well be just the place to start!

What to buy: Stuffed toys

What to pay: Relatively little to lots!

Mariahilfer Strasse is where you want to go if you want some retail therapy. You can find most of the major department stores here e.g Peek & Cloppenburg, H&M, Leiners to name a few.

Should you get tired of going through your credit cards & cash, there are several good cafes & restaurants along the street to rest your weary feet. On Saturdays, the street is closed to traffic.

What to buy: Clothes from Peek & Cloppenburg and H&M
Furniture & home decor from Leiners
Stores selling local products

Graben is excellent for window shopping. I say "window" because entering in some shops and buying would be too expensive for me! In Graben you can find all fashion International brands such as:
* Louis Vuitton
* Dolce e Gabbana
* Prada
* Gucci
* Dior
* Rolex
* Escada
and much more!!!
Apart from luxury brands, you can also find some cheap outlets such as H&M and Zara.

What to buy: Fashion items!

What to pay: It depends.... A Vuitton bag I saw cost 1.630 €. But a dress at H&M can cost 49 €. :)

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There are a lot of souvenir shops, thousands of stuff with the face of Mozart on!

If you like snowballs there are some nice ones with St.Stephan church inside. I found a cheap one inside the shop of the church (yes, they sell souvenirs!)

You can buy delicious sweets too in many places, we bought some but we ate most of them before coming back to Greece!

You can find many department stores but I think you like more a walk in a flee market. The most famous is Naschmarkt. Full of fresh fruits and vegetables, is Vienna's liveliest market. On Saturday you can find a second market next to it. The smells, the colors, the people... I think you like everything here!

I also bought some nice paintings at Hunderwasser (look at my things to do tip)

One would not readily associate Vienna with surfing - being set as it is miles from any form of coastline. However Seeh specialises in a particular branch of fashion - surfing and snowboarding fashion - stocking a lot of the leading brands in this subgenre of couture, for men and women. The two shops are only about 30 metres away from one another and have a massive amount of clothing available - so if you are planning beach holidays abroad from Vienna, you'd be wise to check out the fashions here before you go on holiday.

What to buy: Whether male or female there will be something for you here - most leading brands are stocked and there is everything from shoes to sarongs, flip flops to shorts.

What to pay: Items start at a few Euro upto about EUR 100.

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Kaufhaus Schiepek sounds a lot grander than it is. Tucked away on Teinfaltstraße, behind the Burgtheater, the shop is primarily a jewellery shop, specialising in beaded jewellery and with all sorts of supplies for jewellery makers. However, in addition to selling jewellery, they also sell kitsch items ranging from photo frames through hairclips - often with a pop art inspiration. Alternatively for the more discerning shopper, they have a range of Moleskine city notebooks, which are of course ideal for recording your peregrinations in - e.g. the Vienna edition which retails at EUR 16.50.

What to buy: Beads for making your own jewellery to help you while away the hours on train journeys through Central Europe.

What to pay: A lot of the products are very cheap, or if you lack creativity and/or time they have a large range of finished jewellery available at very modest prices.

If you are looking for a big department store, one of those places that seems to have it all...well, there really are not that many big department stores in Vienna. One of them is in the main pedestrian street (Kaertnerstrasse) called Steffl. The other is called Gerngross, located in the Mariahilferstrasse at subway stop (Ubahn stop) Neubaugasse.

The store is about 5 or 6 floors high, and here you have a flower shop, shoe repairs, pizza, ice cream, clothing, housewares, electronics, sports, everything.......

Probably most of the stuff is the stuff you will find at home, but if you're looking for stuff and can't find it, maybe you should check this place out. It's a great place to see locals shopping plus they have air conditioning (a luxury here) so a good place to go on a hot summer day!

Gerngross first opened in 1897 so is somewhat of a Vienna institution--though the whole building has been quite modernized in the last 100 years!

Keep in mind that all stores are closed on Sundays in Vienna.....