Shopping in Germany

Germans love shopping. There are wide range of Grocery stores, Supermarkets, Shopping malls, Shopping streets, Flea markets, Farmers markets and second-hand stores. There are many Big Box stores like the MediaMarkt, Saturn for electronic products and home appliances, Ikea, SB-Boss, Hardeke and Porta for furnitures and kitchens. 

Pay attention to WinterSclussVerkauf (End of Winter sale) and SommerSchlussVerkauf (End of Summer sale) which comes by last Monday of January and July respectively. There you can grab clothes and all the products at half price.

Germany follows No bags (Kein taschen) concept. Please carry a bag along with you for any shops especially grocery shops. Bags have to be purchased if you don't bring one with you.

Shopping Hours

Opening hours vary according to where the store is located and the type of shop. In general, shops are open from Monday to Saturday. Smaller shops (Kiosk), bakeries (Backerei), open very early in the morning even in Sundays. All shops except petrol stations and bakeries are closed on Sundays.Generally the following opening times is followed all-over Germany 

Department stores: Mon - Sat 10am - 8pm 
Supermarkets: Mon - Sat 7am - 8pm ( Some upto 10pm )
Bakeries: Mon - Sat 7am - 6pm, Sun 7am - 12pm

Grocery 

Grocery stores, butchers, small shops, etc. have individual opening hours. For the exact opening hours information please check with the individual shop. Petrol stations are allowed to be open 24/7. There is a store closing law (Ladenschlußgesetz) which is followed very strictly in Germany. 

There are special opening hours on Sundays in certain malls and bigger shops called VerkaufÖffenerSonntag especially during festive season.

The main items in Germans shopping list is the selection of Cheese,meat and bread varieties.There are many chained grocery stores and small fresh produce stores like butcher shop (Metzgerei), a bakery (Bäckerei) or pastry shop (Konditorei). German grocery supermarkets have a range of limited variety products. There are

  • Discounters like Lidl, Aldi, Netto where you can purchase all the items in your  shopping list at a very affordable price.
  • Major Grocery stores like Rewe, Edeka, Kaufland, Real which are large and comparitively a little higher standard products. Stores like Real and Kaufland sell everything from computers,bicycles to lingeries and also the grocery items can be purchased at wholesale prices.
  • Bio/Organic/Natural products can be found in the supermarkets and also seperat Bio stores are there which exclusively sells only the organic products.
  • African / Turkish / Asian grocery stores can also be found in all cities where you can get the traditional vegetables and fruits of those particular country. One of the very famous turkish shop Karadag is well-known for the fresh meat varieties and also vegetables.

Shopping Carts

Shopping Carts can be taken by a simple Coin Deposit system. You will need a 50cents coin or 1euro coin to take the cart. There are also simple shopping baskets available inside the stores which can be taken just like that. When the cart is chained back in its place again, you get back the coin.

Online shopping

Online shopping is there for all and any product in Germany. There are online clothing portals, online pharmacy (Apotheke), grocery, electronics and large furnitures. The payment can be done using Credit cards,transactions or cash on delivery. It can be done 24/7 and the goods delivered at your door. Large variety, ease and security of payment, and efficient shipping combine to make on-line shopping a great alternative.

Germany Best shopping streets

  1. Cologne's Shopping street - The Schildergasse
  2. Munich's Shopping Streets - Kaufinger and Sendlingerstraße
  3. Frankfurt's Shopping Street - Zeil
  4. Düsseldorf's Shopping Street - Königsallee
  5. Hamburg's Shopping Street: "Mö"
  6. Berlin's Shopping Street: Ku'damm