The best boutique shopping in Berlin

BY : OLIVIA LOPEZ

Where to Shop in Berlin

Get in the know.

It comes as no surprise that Berlin, the cultural capital of Germany, is home to some of the best streetwear shops in the world. While the sneaker scene from London to Los Angeles is often over hyped with buzz and heavy foot traffic, Berlin’s streetwear scene leans to a more underground, “who’s in the know” atmosphere, fitting for the reserved yet laid back nature of German culture. A less is more idea is heavily embedded into the zeitgeist, as anyone trying to get into Berghain has noted. Take a jaunt down Mitte or Kreuzberg and find yourself at the pulse of the scene, with these renowned retail shops hidden behind an unassuming store front.

Soto

For the elevated menswear guy that wears Thom Browne and Maison Kitsune. Soto is a concept shop offering a full range of mens and womenswear brands, mixing Scandinavian minimalism with global street style.

No. 74

Just a few steps away is No. 74, an Adidas-operated sneaker shop that stocks exclusive collaborations by Adidas and Y-3. You can find a range of pieces from their capsule collections with Stella McCartney, Alexander Wang and Raf Simons.

The Civilist

For the skateboard aficionado who listens to A$AP Mob or some rendition of Young “insert rapper name here”. Civilist stocks its eponymous label of streamlined menswear jackets, graphic tees, and minimally-branded merchandise. The shop is understated much like its cult fan base, a place where you can get a fresh wheels for your deck and a beanie to boot.

The Store

The Store is located inside the main floor of Soho House Berlin, and is a 360 degree lifestyle retail experiment, that offers ready to wear next to home goods and collector art pieces. The Store is the most luxury and editorially driven of the set, stocking designers fresh off the runway with pieces from Balenciaga, Vetements and Alex Eagle.

VooStore

My favorite of them all, Voo is a multi-use boutique with a diverse curation of labels. The shop is housed in a space that epitomizes the artful deconstruction of Berlin interiors, and it’s easy to spend an entire afternoon migrating from the in-house cafe, to the well-stocked bookshelves, and finally, to the racks of labels mixed in the high and low. There is sartorial pleasure in styling Prada and Loewe with under-the-radar favorites such as Maryam Nassir Zadeh and Toteme.