Berlin FAQ Blog

I was hanging around in Friedrichshain's delightful Ring Center [*] yesterday (well, what else is there to do in Berlin on a dark, damp Janurary evening?) and noticed something strange. Yes: there were notices everywhere proclaiming the Center (sic) is open until the giddyingly late hour of 9pm. To someone who still remembers when late-night opening was until 8pm on Thursdays only ("langer Donnerstag"), this is still an exciting revolution in Berlin's world of shopping. But - surely, the last time I was there, just a few days ago [**], the signs were proudly announcing that Friedrichshainers and Lichtenbergers and anyone else could partake in consumption or at least excessive window shopping until 10pm?

And so it was: later, heading towards Alexanderplatz, I noticed a large poster from the pre-Christmas advertising season emphasizing precisely this fact.

There's been a lot of this going on since opening hours were liberalised at the end of last November: shops and shopping centres have been experimenting with opening times and changing them at short notice. Kaufhof on Alexanderplatz was particularly sneaky: after opening every day until 10pm before Christmas, come the New Year they had advertisments in the newspapers proudly announcing their new, "longer" opening hours: Monday - Wednesday until 8pm, Thursday - Saturday until 10pm. Or was it Friday - Saturday until 9pm?

Quite - whereas until the end of November one could assume that everywhere would be open until a uniform 8pm, now hours vary between locations and are subject to change at short notice. (Note to self: nearby Extra supermarket now closes at 9pm, not 10pm on Saturday).

Result: I still make sure to get any shopping done before 8pm, which means - if everyone else is doing the same - before long lack of demand will cause shops to close at 8pm every day again. Except eccentric places like Dussmann who, as far as I can tell, have staff who don't seem to have homes to go to and delight in selling books at odd hours of the morning.

Still, shouldn't complain: the dark, primitive era when Saturday closing was 2.30 pm (yes, pm, except on the first Saturday of the month when it was 4pm) is a distant memory.

[*] Technically it might also be part in Lichtenberg
[**] If you don't know Berlin, forget the hip! edgy! trendy! image, that's all so 90's. The Ring Center is the place to be and be seen.