Berlin has become a hotbed of retail innovation and home to some of Europe’s best retailing. John Ryan takes a walk around the stores that are raising the bar with quirky design features

Last week, volcanic ash and closed airspace across Europe combined to cause the postponement of the World Retail Congress in Berlin as travel from across the globe to the German capital proved a bridge too far for the overwhelming majority of speakers and delegates. The event will now take place in October, in the same city, just as if Eyjafjallajokull had never happened.

However, a few hardy souls did make it and on Tuesday the planned retail Study Tour of Berlin went ahead - it will also take place in October.

And quite apart from its being a gloriously sunny day, there was much to catch the attention that was new since Retail Week last visited at the back end of last year.

It is also worth noting that the retailers that were visited rolled out the red carpet, welcoming the small but perfectly formed group that made its way around the city in a 52-seater coach.

A highlight was undoubtedly provided by Bread & Butter trade show owner Karl-Heinz Müller, who took the visitors up to the private shopping floor of 14OZ, his denim and casualwear shop, where they quaffed champagne and were the recipients of goody bags.

But there was much else to distract and Berlin proved once more that in spite of its easterly geographical position, not only is it the new centre of Germany, but it is also a focus for some of Europe’s better retailing.

KaDeWe

No tour of Berlin would be complete without a visit to the department store that boasts it is mainland Europe’s largest: KaDeWe. This is, of course, another way of saying that Harrods is actually bigger, but a trip to this store is for many tourists and locals akin to the mandatory visit to Selfridges when in central London. For those doing this at the moment, the major eye-catcher is just inside the main door. Here, a huge porcelain oriental buddha, complete with moving arms, smiles at shoppers entering the store. This is intended to celebrate the 300th anniversary of German porcelain brand Meissen, and while it is probable that few will be able to afford much in the way of Meissen merchandise, this is nonetheless an arresting installation as an introduction to the grandest of Berlin stores.

Peek & Cloppenburg

The department store chain, founded by a Mr Peek and a Mr Cloppenburg in 1901, has long been a feature of west Berlin shopping, and with multiple levels and a trading area of 16,000 sq ft it is one of the Kurfürstendamm’s more impressive landmarks.

The Ku’damm, as it is known locally, is in fact the home of ostentatious retailing in the city and P&C - the name given to it by shoppers and employees alike - is very much part of this, with a store boasting a glass curtain intended to imitate a skirt.

Up to a point it does, but while this is interesting, it is the interior that is really worth looking at.

A central atrium allows views from the ground floor up through the store and down to the basement where the young fashion offer is contained. The latter merits a tour on its own, if only for the new Diesel concession space, unveiled at the Bread & Butter trade show in January. It is also interesting as an exercise in taking a large area and making it feel manageable.

To an extent, however, it is the building itself that really grabs the attention. It is in the throes of being extended at present. At some point over the next year the back of the store will no longer be such, as the walls are pushed through and a space that includes listed Art Deco walls and windows will give shoppers access to the adjacent Ellington hotel as well as a bigger shopping area.

The atrium is also worth lingering over, if only to gawp at the massive light boxes advertising the various in-store brands and to take a look at the mannequins standing on internally illuminated floor tiles that serve as onlookers on the whole scene.

There is a temptation to dismiss much of German department store retailing as efficient, but ultimately dull, and there is some truth in this view. Much of this very large store is about commodity selling with side-hung merchandise predominating and, in many cases, organised by size.

This carries with it the obvious advantage that you can get more stock onto the sales floor, but it does mean that seeing garments front-on becomes something of a rarity. Nowhere is this more the case than on the top floor of this store, where about half of the 32,295 sq ft is devoted to the display of men’s suits, the great bulk of them side-hung. This may not be the most attractive form of presentation, but it does mean choice and according to the store management, Peek & Cloppenburg was the first to try this form of selling in the early 20th century.

Cunningly, an apparently standalone two-floor store, called McNeal, has been carved out of the external corner of this store. This looks for all the world like a Gant meets Ralph Lauren Polo outlet manqué, except that the prices are very much lower. McNeal is in fact a wholly owned Peek & Cloppenburg brand, but if you didn’t know this, there would be no clue that this is the case.

Ex-pat store planner Boyd Stephenson, who hails originally from Scotland, says that this flagship store is frequently mistaken for the neighbouring KaDeWe, and given the scale, you can understand why this might be the case.

Karstadt Sport

KaDeWe is part of the Karstadt Premium Group, whose members include the Alsterhaus in Hamburg and Oberpollinger in Berlin, but the department store operation also runs a 28-strong chain of sports shops.

Dubbed, imaginatively, Karstadt Sport, the Berlin branch is the biggest sports store in the city and spans four floors in a circular structure just around the corner from the Kurfürstendamm. Running shoes are the store’s biggest category and these are given pride of place on the ground floor while cycling is in the basement, where it acts as a destination, according to the store management.

Items such as the display of running shoes set against a picture of the Berlin Stadium, a World Cup area and the glitzy looking Asics-branded shoe-lift - a bit like a mid-shop contemporary version of a dumb waiter - transporting merchandise from one floor to another, are all on view.

The point about this store is that it’s a sports superstore and is in the heart of the city, giving nearby Nike Town, which looked a little tired on the day of visiting, a good run for its money.

Dussmann

Das KulturKaufhaus, aka the culture department store, was built 12 years ago because of a requirement by Berlin’s city fathers that if the non-retailing Dussmann Group was to set up a headquarters in this location, it would have to incorporate a shop. It is both a Berlin fixture and a one-off, but it often goes the extra mile in terms of retail add-ones. Crucially, it goes a long way towards answering the simple request shoppers everywhere should pose: Give me a reason to come into your store… and make things easy.

Head to the service desk and, for a small, returnable deposit, you can walk away with a CD player, music and a pair of trendy reading glasses and then sit in the store’s book area - book sales account for about 60% of the store’s turnover - and settle down for as long as you like.

However, Kroemer says the crown jewel is in the basement, where she claims Europe’s largest selection of classical music is located. There is also a Bechstein piano set on a wooden platform, which affords major performers the chance to display their talents in the same manner as pop-stars.

This is a shop that merits a stop on any Berlin retail city tour.

Hugendubel

The final shop that really repays patronage in this area is Hugendubel - the border between cafe, stadium, library and bookshop, according to the blurb.

There is a touch of hyperbole about this, but the Tauentzienstrasse branch of this national chain is remarkable for the pods that it has on each floor. These are, in fact, circular extensions to the central staircase. They get smaller as you head up through the store and function as seating areas if

you feel like a sit down with a book, or just a plain relax. Architecturally, the internal landscape of what might otherwise be a somewhat pedestrian store is startling as a result of this straightforward feature.