Erfurt Shopping

When you first see the Anger 1 building which is very clearly marked and naturally, stands in a prominent position on the Anger Square, your first thought will probably be the same as mine. That this is an historical building which has been converted to a shopping mall.

If this is the case, then I wish I could find out something of the history of this really beautiful old building. For the time being however, I simply accept it as a fine shopping complex covering four floor of this extremely noteworthy building. Many of the favourite German and even European wide stores are there along with some very nice little eateries and most importantly some very clean public toilets.

Definitely worth a visit.

I stumbled across this small store by accident, when I was strolling around Fischmarktsquare, waiting for my city tour to begin. It's behind the main square, in a smaller street. This place is a mixture of a café and a chocolate shop. Lots of delicious chocolates, which you can buy per piece. In addition there are three small tables, if you want to sit down and have a coffee.
They also have coffee to take away, and I was able to get a really good cappuccino. I also bought an espresso praliné, delicious!! It certainly wasn't the last time I was in this shop, now that I know where it's at.

What to pay: I paid 2,20 Euro for the cappuccino and the chocolate, which I think is a really good price.

Erfurt's shopping mall is on the square called Anger. It's inside a very historic looking building, so you'd never guess this was a mall. Inside it's a modern shopping mall, with all the usual stores. But don't do all your shopping there.
When you walk from the Anger towards the Domplatz - the Cathedral square - you pass so many small shops, all very nice and each and everyone of them a lot more interesting than the mall. Of course there is also the usual tacky tourist stuff, but most of the shops are very tasteful. We spent a lot of time looking around, buying a few things, but luckily didn't spend too much money. With the exception of one store nothing was very expensive. This store is opposite of the tourist information, at the corner of Rathaus-and Krämerbrücke. Again beautiful things, but very expensive.

What to buy: My favourite shop is called Ambiente Erfurt. It's a tiny shop,selling tea and tea pots, cups etc. Also some very tasteful souvenirs. It's on Marktstrasse 34 in the old part of Erfurt.

What to pay: Most stores are very reasonably priced.

Hugendubel is a chain of large bookshops, more like book supermarkets, in sixteen German cities.

At all their locations they have a huge selection of books on several floors, with pleasant reading corners where you can sit down on a couch and read for a while without even buying anything. And there is usually a café where you can sit and read as well.

Here in Erfurt they are very centrally located right on the main square, the Anger.

What to buy: Once on the train to Erfurt I was preparing a class on the opera Der Schatzgräber, by Franz Schreker, and realized I needed a copy of an obscure book by E.T.A. Hoffmann, because I had been told by someone who had just written her M.A. thesis on this opera (thanks Katrin!) that some of the plot and the names were taken from one of Hoffmann's short stories called "The Mines of Falun" (not that Schreker ever admitted this).

So I went into Hugendubel in Erfurt and sure enough, they had exactly what I needed in a cheap paperback edition.

If Hugendubel is so wonderful why do I have mixed feelings about them? Because whenever they move into a new city they drive the traditional local bookshops out of business. I don't know if this happened in Erfurt, but in Frankfurt I can think of three local bookshops that bit the dust shortly after Hugendubel appeared on the scene.

I have had phases of trying to boycott Hugendubel for this reason, but it seems rather pointless now that the other shops are gone.

My new year's resolution for next year will be to buy fewer books and borrow more from the libraries.

If you starts your Shopping tour do it at the"ANGER" A great shopping Center is there at "Anger 1". But thats not all. Scroll around in town and you will find many many small and some bigger Stores.
You can buy everythink you want.

What to pay: The prices are not so high like in the western Part of Germany.

So I'm italian ... and you know italians, they are the best, they are the only one able to be creative & so on & so on ... then I came across this shop in Erfurt ... and I bought some stuff I could never find in Italy :-)))

What to buy: Sunglasses, shoes, trousers, second-hand vintage suite, roll-paper (and maybe also the rest ;-) ... pay at least a visit even if you don't wanna buy anything !!!!!

What to pay: Less than you expect !

The shopping paradise in the historical section of town for every taste and budget.