The Schönhauser Allee Arcaden at the Schönhauser Allee S and U station is a full-fledged shopping mall, with lower-end fashion retailers such as H&M, and a slew of shoe shops, opticians, chemists and other shops more practical than stylish. Supermarkets abound in Prenzlauer Berg, including a two-story organic supermarket at the foot of Kollwitzstrasse (LPG Biomarkt, 322 97 14 00, www.lpg-naturkost.de). The neighbourhoods around Kollwitzplatz and Helmholzplatz are filled with upmarket boutiques, many featuring the work of local fashion designers, as well as bakeries, produce shops and gift stores. Kastanienallee, dubbed Castingallee for the painfully stylish twenty-year-olds who make its pavements their catwalk, has an especially dense concentration of clothing stores, including SkunkFunk, Eisdieler (030 285 7351) and Eastberlin.

Kollwitzplatz hosts a popular and largely organic farmers’ market on Thursdays and Saturdays; far funkier is the weekly Sunday flea market in Mauerpark, where you can get vintage sunglasses, stolen bicycles, locally designed T-shirts, and all manner of quirky GDR relics.