Shopping in Stuttgart
Stuttgart’s city centre offers plenty of opportunities to shop for top brands or spend money in boutique stores. Königstrasse, the lively central shopping street, is pedestrianised and runs for over 1km (0.6 mile) from the central station, hosting shops selling international brands.
Markets
One of Stuttgart’s main shopping attractions is the indoor Markthalle (Market Hall). The Jugenstil (art nouveau) style hall has a great ambiance and is good for browsing and picking up high quality delicatessen items.
Open-air markets are held at Marktplatz and Schillerplatz on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. These are good for fresh local produce and flowers. On Saturday mornings a flea market is held at Karlsplatz, which can be good for curiosities and unusual souvenirs from the region.
During Advent, attractive wooden stalls sell Christmas goods plus seasonal food and drink. Stuttgart’s main Christmas market is at Schlossplatz. Stalls are open from 1000-2100 daily and from 1100 on Mondays.
Shopping centres
The five-storey Koenigsbau Passage is a major inner-city mall, with more than 70 shops plus places to eat and drink. The Klett-Passage is located close to the central station. The Calwer Passage has an upmarket feel. Breuninger Stuttgart (Marktstr. 1-3) is a very known shopping centre nationwide. The MILANEO Shoppingcenter Stuttgart (Mailänder Platz 7; www.milaneo.com) hosts 200 shops in the centre of Stuttgart. Another big shopping centre, Gerber (Sophienstr. 21; www.das-gerber.de), is also located in the heart of the city. Be one of the 3.5 million visitors who head to Outletcity Metzingen (www.outletcity.com) every year for factory outlet shopping. The travel time from Stuttgart by car is about 45 minutes.
Opening hours
The shops are generally open from Monday to Friday 0930/1000-2000. On Saturday many shops close at 1600, whereas the shopping centres are open until 2000.
Souvenirs
Pick up a Mercedes-Benz souvenir at the Mercedes-Benz Kundencenter (www.mercedes-benz.de/kundencenter-sindelfingen) in Sindelfingen, which is only 20km (12.4 miles) away from Stuttgart. Another specialty of the region are Ritter Sport chocolate bars which can be bought at the Ritter Sport SchokoLaden (www.ritter-sport.de) in Waldenbuch.
Tax information
Non European Union residents have the opportunity to get tax refunds on goods purchased in Stuttgart’s shops. For more information on the steps which need to be followed, look out for the tax free shopping signs within shops.
