Munich has many interesting areas to explore if you are going there for the shopping. There’s the usual chain stores, more exclusive designer brands & labels, lots of boutiques, huge department stores, and even some local designers. I spent money with such an ease I am glad I had to go home when I did.
The best addresses for shopping in Munich,
listed by area (North – South)
Schwabing West
- Two stores in Munich carrying designer brands are the RagRepublic stores. The one @ Feilitzschstrasse 3 carries known brands such as Marc by Marc Jacobs and Sonia by Sonia Rykiel , while there is another store around the corner @ Markstraße 1 carrying lesser known brands such as Sessun and Yumi, and therefor more accessible prices.
Maxvorstadt
- U.G.L.Y in contrary to its name sells quite beautiful clothes from brands such as mbyM, Denim & Supply by Ralph Lauren and Rut m.fl. The store is located @ Türkenstrasse 80.
- My personal favorite is the feminine store Amber Lounge @ Türkenstrasse 51 where I bought a very stylish Paul & Joe blouse. The receipt was cute too!
Around Marienplatz / Central in Munich
- Kaufingerstraße 1-5 @ Marienplatz is crowded and you won’t have a good time while shopping here if you don’t love busy places, but they have a delicate selection of candy and paper products downstairs which are ideal for gifts to bring back home. The delicacy costs thouhg. I paid 5.50 Euro for a Marzipan bar. Worth it. All gone now. On the top floor there is a good selection of brands of female underwear, just as expensive as back home in Norway.
- The only Diesel store in München is found @ Residenzstraße 3-4, where they carry clothes for both men and women. Two stories. …Take a short break at the Starbucks nearby (Residenzstr. 7) if you want fresh and tasteful bagels! Yummy.
- In the midst of all types of stores selling both clothes and gummy bears there is the reliable Scotch & Soda @ Sendlingerstasse 31. If you’re not into Scotch & Soda this is still a good area as there are plenty of stores (Levi’s at Sendlingerstrasse 50) and boutiques on this street. I don’t remember the name but I think it was called Berndtz which had a tacky red sign, but once you came in it was all glory and well known designer labels. The funky furniture and interior store KARE is also here, at Sendlingerstr. 37.
- I am not impressed with the department store culture in Munich, mostly because of the non-interesting brands they carry. Karstadt disappointed and I was in-and-out in less than five minutes, but the one @ Bahnhofplatz had some urban and trendy brands; G-Star, Levi’s, but not much more for anyone under 35 wanting to wear trendy wearable items. The more exclusive and much more interesting Oberpollinger is nearby (Neuhauserstraße 18). Visit their site to get tempted. Carries Tiger of Sweden, Diesel, Pepe Jeans, and much more! If you visit one department store then make this it.
- Theresa @ Maffeistrasse 3 is a must if you are looking for the latest Marc Jacobs parka, or the latest denims from Current/Elliott.
- For more affordable fashion head to Zara @ Theatinerstrasse 7, and stay in the area if you want to give your wallet a rest.
Further West
- I read about Der 7. Himmel before coming to Munich, so ended up walking up and down the streets and taking trams to get here (Hans-Sachs-Straße 17). It’s a small store selling affordable labels (Religion ++) and you’ll probably have to look hard to find a great piece as the clothes are very much crammed together in a small space. They do NOT accept credit cards, so bring cash! Closeby in a different street is the candy store (gift store) GötterSpeise (Jahnstraße 30), but you’ve probably seen the likes of it before.
- The coolest clothing store in Munich is Ruby Store @ Reichenbachstrasse 37. The store is filled with trendy label fashion for men and women; Acne, Equipment, Mads Nørgaard +++ I ended up here after reading about the über cool stores Menu12 (Reichenbachstr. 12) and Sündhaft (Reichenbachstrasse 3) but they were not for me (or rather, I could not convince Thomas that we should step inside this exclusive perfume store).
Shopping in Munich!
Not for me…
- The second-hand store Wonderland carrying designer labels I had never heard of. I have heard of Chloè, Jil Sander, and DKNY, but I did not see any of these brands. Wasted time for me.
- Leopoldstrasse. The only thing I found here was a very straight Karstadt, suitable for people about 45+ of age that are looking for classics or bold prints.
Helpful links
Munich Shopping
Worltravelguide.net has some basic, but useful information about shopping. Also visit Lonelyplanet pages for tips of specific stores and where to find these.These sites mention the Maximilianstrasse for expensive high-end label shopping, but also Theatinerstrasse and Leopoldstrasse. I was looking for Maendler for a long time after doing some research online seeing several sites recommending it for more affordable design labels, but quickly found out it had closed! What none of these sites mentioned was the awesome THERESA @ Maffeistrasse, nor the shopping street Türkerstrasse where I did most of my fashion buys.
