The largest retail concentration is around the swanky Ku’damm. The KaDeWe department store (Tauentizenstrasse 21-24, 21210, www.kadewe.com) is a tourist attraction in itself. Stilwerk (Kantstrasse 17, 3151 5500) is a mall for cutting-edge interior design and household goods.

Department stores on Friedrichstrasse in Mitte include the Galeries Lafayette (Französische Strasse 23, 209 480), which sells only French products, and the designer heaven, not to say haven, of Quartier 206 (Friedrichstrasse 71, 2094 6800). Those with a serious fashion habit, should head to the boutiques and eccentric small shops around Hackesche Höfe and Alte Schönhauser Strasse.

For antiques, make tracks to Suarezstrasse in Charlottenburg, Keithstrasse and Goltzstrasse in Schöneberg, or Kollwitzstrasse and Husemannstrasse in Prenzlauer Berg. Dealers trade at the Antik- & Flohmarkt (S-Bahnbogen 190-203, Mitte, 208 2655, www.antikmarkt-berlin.de, closed Tue) in the renovated railway arches below Friedrichstrasse station. At weekends the Kunst & Nostalgie Markt on Museumsinsel (0171 710 1662) has ‘Ost-algic’ knick-knacks – a framed picture of East German leader Erich Honecker, perhaps, or some Mitropa coffee pots. The biggest flea market runs along Strasse des 17 Juni through the Tiergarten at weekends.