Shopping in Frankfurt
Popularly known as Europe’s busiest hub for international flights and the financial center of the continent, Frankfurt is also one of the most underrated shopping meccas of the Western world. In the shopping streets in Frankfurt, visitors and businessmen can find superb flagship stores of major haute couture brands as well as flea markets and street fairs that sell antique treasures for a song.
Get high on retail therapy
Hit the ground running by striking out hard and fast at the most popular shopping area in Frankfurt. This is the Fussgängerzone (pedestrian street) of the Zeil, Germany’s answer to Fifth Avenue in New York. This epicenter of shopping frenzy begins at Hauptwache and snakes up all the way to Konstablerwache. You should soak up the adrenaline of retail insanity at the regal and elegant Goethe Strasse, where the flagship stores of the world’s most famous clothing labels can be found. You can retreat to the back streets and nooks, where smaller boutiques with less expensive goods and bakeries can help you recharge. At the western end of Zeil, the crowds of Fresgasse jostle for seats in cafés and delicatessens.
Relief for bargain hunters
For more modest budgets, visit Schillerstrasse, also in the Zeil, for more affordable yet quality clothing and gifts. During Friday, the street gets packed with bargain hunters looking for curios and fresh produce. The districts of Bockenheim, Bornheim or Sachsenhausen offer alternative shopping venues. Leipziger and Berger streets have many small boutiques, thrift stores, cafes and a cheerful market atmosphere. There are a few American-style malls in Nordweststadt and Sulzbach. If you want to escape the overcrowded Zeil, seek refuge in the NordWestZentrum shopping area, about 5 miles away from the city center. Instead of major department stores, you can leisurely stroll along dozens of stores and eateries plus a recreation center. Next to the Zeil is Kleinmarkthalle, a fast-growing market with internationally sourced supermarket goods.
Street markets stretch your budget
A street market shopping experience can be found almost every day in Frankfurt. Street vendors mostly sell fresh produce and flowers. However, the mother of all flea markets is at the Mainufer, which becomes a huge sea of hawkers offering an overabundance of used clothes, books, and kitschy things.
Specialty stores
Kaiserstrasse is the place to see for audio equipment, cameras, and stainless-steel ware. Indulge in furs at Düsseldorfer Strasse, and hunt for book dealers around the Hauptwache and Goetheplatz. Antiques, etchings, and paintings are on sale at Braubachstrasse, Fahrgasse and the appealing Alt-Sachsenhausenal neighborhood.
Airport shopping saves the day
Shopping hours in Frankfurt are until 8 pm, Monday to Saturday, and with the exception of souvenir shops at the Römerberg, and Hauptbahnhof, all shops are closed on Sunday. Happily, Frankfurt locals can flee to the Frankfurt International Airport or Fraport, where Sunday shopping is very much like the weekend joys at malls in North America. While waiting for your connecting flights, pick up gifts at Fraport’s more than 130 shops. Airport stores are required to charge the same retail prices as in their downtown outlets.