Essen. The city for shopping
Metropolis shopping: with the opening of the shopping center at Limbecker Platz, Essen is decidedly gaining ground in importance and denotation as an attractive city. More than 700 retail shops and boutiques are the reason why Essen’s downtown area has been such an attractive shopping place of long standing, and its cultural centers of attraction are quite convincing.
Further enrichments for the Essen experience are city events and attractive restaurant and pubs offering a great selection of food and beverage. The shops and stores on approx. 300,000 sqm sales area in the city centre, Essen is regarded as "the city for shopping". Exquisite jewellery shops, elegant boutiques, major furniture stores, exclusive design studios, and well-assorted department stores offer a varied and exciting shopping experience.
Today, most of Essen city centre is a pedestrian zone. By the way, Essen was the first German city to set up a pedestrian area - as early as the 1920s. Essen city centre is very easy to reach by car, bus, or rail. There are 25 multi-storey car parks providing the centre with 12,000 parking spaces.
But it is not only in the city centre that excellent shopping is to be had. In the other Essen districts, too, e.g. in Rüttenscheid, Werden, Borbeck, Altenessen, or Steele, customers find a wide range of goods on offer in pedestrianized shopping areas. Especially at Christmas time, Essen is most inviting for looking and shopping. Under the motto "Essen is open", the shops extend their opening hours on the Saturdays throughout the whole year to 6.00 p.m.
63 rd Essen Lichtwochen from 28 October 2012 to 5 January 2013
Festive illumination in Essen city centre from late October to early January. Each year, new motifs are formed from thousands of electric light bulbs and with materials of modern lighting technology.
Information:
WWW: www.lichtwochen.essen.de
Essen Tourist Office, D-45127 Essen
Im Handelshof, Am Hauptbahnhof 2
Tel.: +49 / 201 / 19433
Fax: +49 / 201 / 88-72044
E-mail: touristikzentrale@essen.de
40 th International Essen Christmas Market from 22 November to 23 December 2012
From late November to late December, the Christmas Market can be found with more than 250 stalls in the pedestrianized streets, walkways, and squares.
Information:
WWW: www.weihnachtsmarkt.essen.de
Essen Tourist Office, D-45127 Essen,
Im Handelshof, Am Hauptbahnhof 2
Tel.: +49 / 201 / 19433
Fax: +49 / 201 / 88-72044
E-mail: touristikzentrale@essen.de