Visiting KaDeWe: Berlin’s Shopper’s Paradise, Continental Europe’s Largest Department Store

Our itinerary for today called for a tour of Berlin’s top ten sites. So you can imagine my initial disappointment when I learned one of the top sites we would be visiting was a department store. But I kept an open mind. It’s my first time in Berlin, so let’s see what this department store is all about. Let’s see why KaDeWe makes the Berlin top ten.

When we rounded the corner onto Tauentzienstraße, the street where KaDeWe is located, my first thought was that this part of Berlin reminded me of San Francisco, California, minus the hills. Maybe it was the vibe I was getting. I was feeling more comfortable being in Berlin and beginning to enjoy it.

Arriving at KaDeWe, we were given some free time to explore the store. Our instructions were to return back to the bus at the appointed time; or else. Ok, I made up the “or else” part. But we did stay mindful of the time.

What is KaDeWe?

Kaufhaus des Westens (Department Store of the West), usually shortened to KaDeWe, is an impressive building, often referred to as a masterpiece. It has eight floors of store space. After Harrod’s of London, it is the second largest department store in Europe, and the largest department store in continental Europe.

Kaufhaus des Westens was founded in 1907. Originally, KaDeWe was constructed with five floors. Two more were added around 1931.

Believe it or not, sometime in January of 1944, during World War II, an RAF Halifax bomber was shot down (or collided with a German night fighter) during a bombing raid and crashed into the roof of KaDeWe. The resulting fire nearly destroyed what remained of the damaged edifice. Only the shell of the building remained.

It took 12 years, but the store was restored in 1956. Another floor was added in 1996, bringing the total to eight floors. The store now encompasses somewhere around 650,000 sq. ft of retail space.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and Germany’s reunification, KaDeWe saw the largest number of visitors in its history – an archived version of the Berlin.de website says “it was literally flooded with visitors”. Further renovations took place in the mid-2000s leading up to the store’s 100^th anniversary in 2007.

Today, “KadeWe is one of the most important department stores in the world…,” says KaDeWe’s website.

Inside KaDeWe

So what is inside this “innovative, luxurious, and pioneering” building? Well, it is pretty much a regular department store but with a seemingly endless amount of goods available. It exudes an international as well as a local flair. Men’s, women’s, and kid’s clothing, housewares, jewelry, self-care, and plenty of food await, which you’ll find all under one roof. More on the food a bit later. It would take you a good part of a day to see everything. Short of vehicles, I doubt there is anything you cannot find here.

Endless superlatives have been attributed to KaDeWe. When we walked in, I was extremely impressed by what was inside this store. A mind-blowing number of products appealingly arranged as far as the eye can see. The wood-paneled escalators themselves are a work of art. And I haven’t even mentioned the products themselves.

What’s on each floor?

Now that we’re inside, here’s what we found on each floor:

Erdgeschoss (Ground Floor)

You’ll be greeted by international luxury brands and cosmetics from world renown designers when you first walk into the store. Also on this floor are spas and beauty salons. No wonder this floor is known as “Luxury Boulevard”.

Etage 1 (First Floor) – Men’s Apparel

I could certainly add a few items from this floor to my wardrobe. Heck, I could put together a whole new wardrobe from the slacks, shirts, shoes, and other items available here. I’m not a style-conscious person so I’d probably need to hire a personal shopper to help me out.

Etage 2 (Second Floor) – Women’s Fashion

So many nice things. I’d have loved to have bought my wife a few pieces, but as you’ll notice the recurring theme in this post, we didn’t have enough time.

Etage 3 (Third Floor) – Women’s Accessories

Same story for this floor.

Etage 4 (Fourth Floor) – Kids World

My first thought when we arrived on this floor was whether we could find anything for the young ones back home. Though we didn’t buy anything from Kid’s World, we did consider several items. I’m sure if the young ones were here, they’d be smiling from ear to ear.

Etage 5 (Fifth Floor) – Home Store and Customer Service

The Home Store includes things such as electronics, toys, kitchen store, furniture, stationery and office supplies, and souvenirs. It is also the ‘home’ of Customer Service. More on that in the next section.

Etage 6 (Sixth Floor) – Die Sechste

This floor has its own special designation: Die Sechste or The Sixth. This is the food hall, with seemingly hectare upon hectare of food, glorious food! A gastronomic heaven for foodies and connoisseurs alike. Here you can indulge yourself in anything from truffles to bratwurst to seafood to desserts to champagne. Just about every type of food you could possibly want. Packaged foods. Baked goods. Deli products. Groceries. Snacks. Sweets. If you want to have a sit-down meal or beverage, there are delicatessens, cafes, and bars from which to choose. You can just leave me here and come get me tomorrow… Or the next day.

 Etage 7 (Seventh Floor) – Bar and Wintergarten

On this floor there is a bar, a 1,000-seat restaurant, and an indoor winter garden. It gives the feeling of a giant atrium and has a very nice view overlooking Wittenbergplatz, one of the city’s main plazas.

KaDeWe Services

With all that going for it, you might be surprised (or not) to learn you can also avail yourself of a full array of KaDeWe’s customer services.

Catering service, chauffeured shuttles, childcare, porterage, shipping service, alterations, cloakroom and baggage storage, and, of course, free Wi-Fi are just some of the amenities. They also offer personal shopper services, something I really could’ve made good use of down in the Men’s Apparel section. They even have a fee-based store tour.

And that’s just a partial list of what they offer. If you’re visiting KaDeWe, you can head to their Customer Services department on the fifth floor to learn about all of their available services.

A Tiny Taste of Tauentzienstraße

My wife and I kind of had unspoken plans to see what was on all eight floors, going floor by floor. Our plans were proceeding well until we reached the sixth floor. It was then that we realized we had spent most of our time in KaDeWe and hadn’t seen anything else is in the area. Hurriedly, we breezed through the last two floors (which, alas, meant we didn’t spend near enough time in Die Sechste), came back down with our purchases, and exited the store.

Near the beginning of this post, I mentioned a street called Tauentzienstraße. What is Tauentzienstraße? Tauentzienstraße is one of the most popular shopping streets in Berlin. It was originally laid out to look like a Parisian boulevard. In the early 1900s it featured the first U-Bahn, or subway, in Berlin. It also had a tram that rode down the median. Over time, especially during the Cold War era, it developed into a vibrant commercial center. Now, “Tauentzienstraße is one of the busiest shopping streets in Berlin…dominated by flagship stores of international brands.”

Taking a look around we decided to head across and down Tauentzienstraße to get a closer look at what was on this iconic street. Ahead on our left was the famous Leiser building (site translated from German by Google Translate). This branch of Leiser was once the largest shoe store in Berlin.

Ironically, we ended up at a different shoe store. My wife likes Birkenstock shoes. She was elated to find a Birkenstock store right on Tauentzienstraße, the street we were already walking down. We went in and she ended up buying a pair of shoes. Since Birkenstock is a German company, it was even more meaningful that she bought a pair here in Germany.

Further up ahead on the right, we could see the high-rise office tower of the Europa Center. Proudly perched atop the building is the spinning, ten-meter-diameter Mercedes-Benz logo. The logo is visible from all over Berlin.

If you didn’t get enough shopping done at KaDeWe, there are about 70-some shops at the Europa Centre for you to check out. Between KaDeWe, Europa Centre, and the other retailers along Tauentzienstraße, your shopping jones will most definitely be satisfied.

Much as I would have absolutely loved to stroll down Tauentzienstraße and explore everything it has to offer — including a couple of works of art and historic buildings — we had to turn around. We did visit a gift shop in the short time we had remaining. I bought a mug for some friends and a couple of other souvenirs. With our free time nearly expired, we dashed back to the bus.

A few members of our group returned to the bus with some KFC after their visit to KaDeWe. This sparked a discussion between my wife and I. My thinking was, “why come all the way here and get KFC, something you can get just about everywhere back home in the United States? Especially considering we just left a venue with two whole floors the size of football fields dedicated to food.” She reminded me that this may be what they know, what they were comfortable with. Maybe, as far as food is concerned, they are not as adventurous as we are.

My wife’s comment reminded me that I need to be a little more tolerant. I will admit I would gladly try something at a McDonald’s in Japan, or a Burger King in the Middle East (I did have a bulgogi Whopper in Vietnam), just to taste what they offer there that is not on the menus of their American counterparts. (Speaking of KFC, there is a debate about which Caribbean island has the best KFC fried chicken. I’ve only tried it on St. Thomas, but I hear Jamaica and the Cayman Islands have the best.)

KaDeWe: A Must-See Destination?

It’s kind of refreshing when my travels prove me wrong about something. This was one of those times. My initial disappointment of stopping at a department store was wiped out and replaced with a feeling of satisfaction. I now know why our Top Ten tour of Berlin stopped at KaDeWe. After experiencing it for myself, I’d have to agree that “a shoppers paradise” is an apt description. I can even appreciate why some say KaDeWe is a must-see destination. I would happily come back and spend the entire day in this department store.

(Originally published 18 August 2020 as “A Tour of Berlin – Pt. V: KaDeWe”. Updated 21 December 2025.)

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