Berlin (Shopping) Renaissance

You only had to hit us over the head four or five times with your suggestions of shops in Berlin until you piqued our interest. We last visited Berlin in 2001 and even then you could tell something special was going on. The city was in perpetual construction. The giant cement block tenements of the eastern half were beginning to be encorporated into the city as a whole. There was grafitti. There was art. There were anarchistic bars. There were huge clubs. It was great.

5 years hence and apparently the city has continued to change and find its identity. Now commerce has come to Berlin in a big way. So we took some time to survey the landscape and present to you a bit of a snapshot of Berlin shopping. Hopefully we'll get the chance to see it firsthand very soon.

Edgy Label Boutiques

Have you heard of the labels like F-Troupe, February, Artysm and Nur Rock? Yeah, neither have we. These are a few of edgy, Euro labels available at Belleville (Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 27).

Don't be freaked out by the random full video clip that pops up from time to time when you visit their site. We were.

Nearby, Ulf Haines (Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 27) also deals in lesser known, avant-garde designers. The shop cultivates its brand list from Japan mixing in some European favorites like Ann Demeulemeester. Trained as a goldsmith, Ulf also apparently carries quite an interesting jewelry selection.

The winner for best concept for a store goes to Apartment (Memhard Str. 8), which leaves its massive store mostly empty, making you walk down to the basement to see a collection of everything from Bernard Wilhelm clothing to limited-edition Adidas shoes.

High-End Brand Boutiques

For your favorite in expensive avant-garde designers, go to Harveys (Kurfurstendamm 56-67). Yohji, Martin, Iseey, Comme des Garçons, they're all there. What you won't find there, you'll find at Van Ravenstein (Leibnizstrasse 49), which appears to be a temple to avant-garde design of the Belgian flavor. For high-end lingerie you'll want to see Blush (Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 22).

Oh, and don't forget. If you'll be there soon, the Comme des Garçons guerilla store (Brunnenstrasse 152) will probably still be around.

Indie Label Flagship Stores

Berlin is also has a burgeoning designer community. For a peek at all the talent around, there's multi-label designer collective Little Red Riding Hood(Friedrichstrasse 71).

Then there's designer Sarah Heartbo and her Heartbo (Oderberger Str. 20) brand and shop. Check out the fit and finish of her line available only at her store and a few select locations.

Though Starstyling's (Rosenthalerstrasse 50) website is a bit hard to navigate, click enough random places and you'll uncover a delightful collection of carefully crafted T-shirts and accessories.

Streetwear Stores

It's the thriving streetwear community in Berlin that first got our attention. From the few suggestions for our Berlin guide, we knew already of Solebox, 95gallery, Kickback, Overkill and Nort.

New to the scene is Firmament (Schroderstrasse 8). From the same people who bring you online street mag Being Hunted and online shop The Glade, Firmament reps the hottest high-end streetwear labels from Japan and Europe.

Bestshop (Alte Schönhauserstrasse 6) describes itself as a streetwear shop also, but their take is completely different. They carry a plethora of edgy Scandinavian and Berlin labels like K7 to Scandinavian labels like Henrik Vibskov, the streetwear staple T-shirts and jeans, alongside records, accessories and random doodads.

Finally, we've brought up several sneaker spots already, but if you still haven't gotten your fix try Snika (Winterfeldtstr. 46) and Snea-Q (Fasanenstrasse 81) for boatloads of retro/limited-editon sneaker goodness.

Toys/Art/Randoms

For a look at where art, toys, comics, books and t-shirts intersect, check out Supalife (Raumerstrasse 40). This looks like a Euro Giant Robot to us and that can never be a bad thing.

And finally, if you know of Berlin at all you know that they like their clubs and their dancing, so check out Hard Wax (Paul-Lincke-Ufer 44a) if you're into that sort of thing.

If you've actually been to any of these stores or other great stores in Berlin, please don't forget to describe them to us so we can add them to our guide.

Major sources: JC Report, Superfuture.