Stores, Malls or Markets in Berlin

This store offered quite a lot interesting, a little aristic and unique clothes esp. for women, both first and esp. second hand including old collectons of well known deseigners like say Jil Sanders. If you look for something unique go there and take more time to browse among many clothes. The store seemed to be quite popular among locals as there were always 1-2 costumers inside.

The store was very small, so some clothes were hidden in the back room. Ask the saleswoman (although her English was as good as my German :-) what you are looking for. The store was not heavy lighted, so better go outside to check real colours and quality of what you are going to buy.

What to buy: Large variety of clothes especially for women. Urszula (me too) liked very pretty and unique brown jacket embroidered with yellow thread with foxes on borders and foxy collar. Hmm... it costed over 300 € and it was a little too small for her. We even asked the very nice salewoman (she knew English very little) to lower the price. She checked some notes, asked the salesman and finally replied that she couldn't lower the price not to sell it below the cost.

What to pay: Very different prices: from 10 € (for one piece of second hand cloth on sale outside the store - nothing pretty there) to... over 800 € for beautiful, first hand leather overcoat. Urszuala liked many clothes which costed... 300 € and over. A few pretty and unique clothes had lowered (even twice) prices and costed 50 - 100 €.

Kaiser's is a chain of groceries or better to say small supermarkets quite popular at least in Germany and in... Hungary run by German Tengelmann company.
Kaiser's is a good choice esp. for a budget traveler looking for a nice selection of groceries. It's got the most of everything! And they stayed open longer at least as for Berlin.

OPENING HOURS:
Mon - Fri: 8.00 am - 8.00 pm
Sat.: 8.00 am - 4.00 pm

What to buy: Food and drink. Look for German beer (if you like) and crackings (good and relatively cheap).

What to pay: Low prices as for Berlin although usually at least 20-30% higher than in chain supermarkets in Poland.

In Europe, most prices include a value-added tax or VAT that is 16 percent in Germany (21% in Poland). This is like a sales tax, except that it's built into the price you pay instead of being added at the cash register.

If you are non-EU citizen you are entitled to a VAT (Value Added Tax) - Refund that is 16% in Germany.

Whenever you enter a shop with a Tax-Free sign (as on my picture) outside, and you spent over 25.00 €, ask for a special form. Stamp the form when you get through Customs. But be prepared to show your goods, which must still be in their original packing. The tax is refunded either at the border or sent to the address on the envelop containing the cheque.

What to buy: Buy more. VAT-Refund is worth considering for large purchases.

What to pay: Save up to 16% - a little less to be honest.

I got these two leaflets on my picture in KaDaWe department store. There is a lot of info on shopping there.

Berlin has a few centres/downtowns and a few main shopping areas:

In Charlottenburg:
1. Kurfürstendamm (Ku-damm) esp. around Adenauerplatz and east of Bleibtreustraße up to Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche (Emperor William Memorial Church). There were mostly high quality cloth stores and second hand stores - rather expensive area.

In Mitte:
2. Friedrichstraße south of Spree River up to say Französische Straße - East Berlin answer to West Berlin Ku-damm.
3. Area around Hackesher Markt - excuse, I wasn't there.
4. Alexanderplatz and around - excuse, I wasn't there.

In Schöneberg
5. South of Kleiststraße, and around Nollendorfplatz - there was the best second hand store at Ahornstraße.
6. On and around Beiziger Straße - excuse, I wasn't there.

In Kreuzberg:
7. Bergmannstraße and around - a little bit artistic, unique and interesting shops with strange clothes, furnitures and food.

In Tiergarten:
8. Potsdamerstraße (Sony Center) and Potsdamer Platz (Arkaden).


HOURS
Groceries and supermarkets/shopping malls usually:
Mon - Fri: 9.00 am - 8.00 pm
Sat: 9.00 am - 4.00 pm
Others:
Mon - Fri: 10.00 am - 8.00 pm
Sat: 11.00 am - 4.00 pm
SUNDAY CLOSED - flea markets are open.

What to buy: What you like :-) From postcards and small souvenirs to top class clothes by world famous fashion designers.

What to pay: If you are non-EU citizen save up to 16% in tax free stores. You must spend at least 25.00 €.

If you're young and you like the fashionable and non-expensive clothes, these 2 stores are for you. You can find H&M mostly anywhere else in Europe, but I think Orsay is exclusive to Germany. However, you will be able to find some neat clothes here and you won't believe the prices... Being everything sooo expensive in Europe, you wouldn't expect to find a cool blouse or skirt for 10-15 EUR .... But there's some great stuff in these stores, and you can buy several nice things even if you don't have a lot of money. I even bought lingerie here, and everything they have is cool. So take a look!

What to buy: Anything you like: dresses, blouses, skirts, jeans, lingerie...

What to pay: I guess my best deal was a black mini skirt which cost me 9 EUR (at H&M) and a sexy black top that was only 7 EUR (at Orsay)... Can't imagine what the prices must be when the big sales are on!!!!

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In the Nikolaiviertel I fond this little shop which sells nothing but decks of cards, from the simple Skat or Poker to Tarot and very specialized decks. It was lots of fun to look around. There was a card game with all sorts of spiders - I wonder who would like to play with that.
Also castles, books, authors, just about anything. I especially liked one which displayed cartoons on each card.

You can buy Baumkuchen (see below) in many different shops, particulary in December. Other places to look include KaDeWe and fancy bakeries.

What to buy: Baumkuchen is a delicious type of cake. It gets its name from the tree-like rings you find when you cut it open. Original Baumkuchen is plain or sugar-glazed, but I prefer mine covered in chocolate (preferably dark, but you can also get it with milk chocolate).

My family in the US has come to love Baumkuchen so much that they're furious whenever I don't bring some for them when I visit. Baumkuchenspitzen are small pieces of Baumkuchen, generally dipped in chocolate and sold in bags or boxes; they are much easier to transport than entire cakes.

What to pay: You can buy very cheap and good Baumkuchen at the discount supermarket Aldi in winter for about 2.50. Otherwise, it depends on where you buy and the size you choose, but it generally tends to be expensive. You can get everything from tiny cakes to huge towers.

A great attraction is the "Galerie Lafayette" at the corner of Französische (French) Strasse 23 and Friedrichstrasse.
This elegant store is a branch of the well known Paris department store.

the architectural design is very modern and has a conical décor,

What to buy: Everything and specialized on fashion

What to pay: Expensive