Lots of local shopping and places to eat (dine in & fast food for Frank). McDonald's local German…read moreeats KFC A BURRITO joint etc, It's open late.

The Europa-Centre is a shopping centre in Berlin, it is a fairly decent size and includes eateries…read moresuch as Vapiano and KFC. It's located directly adjacent to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church so the location is reasonable. The mall is slightly hard to navigate with very few employees around, and only two lifts, both of which are close to each other but not close enough you can press a button and wait for the next one, the lifts overall are quite slow. The mall does have some nice features such as a market outside, and a nice square where you can sit outside if you ate at Vapiano for example, and a water feature inside. Probably a lack of shops also doesn't do this place any positives, and the number of shops and even places to eat is much smaller than most other shopping malls I've seen around the city, such as the Mall of Berlin. This isn't the best of places to shop, and probably not somewhere one should come out of their way for, it has a new nice water features and an excellent branch of Vapiano and sadly that is about it, also frustratingly the toilets are downstairs (they do have a pretty frightening stair-lift) but of course you have to also pay 50 cents each for this. Due to what I've mentioned, the Europa Centre deserves a two star rating.

I guess there's not much to tell about this store as many of you know it already, but this is one…read moreof the stores I'm very ambivalent about. On the one hand - there's a cool interior design and great atmosphere. On the other hand - it can get a bit messy sometimes (especially around the sale section in the store) On the one hand - really cool books, records and just random stuff scattered all around the store. On the other hand - crazy high prices for stuff you can sometimes get for much less of you wont buy it there. On the one hand - really cool clothes and interesting collections with some unique items On the other hand - 35 euros for a crop shirt? Not really... I understand its a brand but there's really no justification for the pricing besides paying for the branding itself. For some reason I still like going into this store, mostly leave empty handed, maybe you won't.

Have to admit that I love this freakin hipster place. Always always always find stuff to buy…read more P.S.: You get 20% (or 10%?) off with a student ID. Edit: I will never order online again. They totally screwed up my order. Somehow they didn't put my Hausnummer on the package so Hermes couldn't find my house. Right now, my order is lost, somewhere, no one knows where. It's a camera and I was waiting for it to arrive in time because they said shipping takes 3-5 days. Well, it's been a week now. We'll see when my package will arrive. Hopefully anytime soon. Bummer though.

GEAR is - beside of Mr. S and Blackstyle - the best fetish store in the world…read more The selection is fabulous, the store design awesome and the crew very nice and helpful. I always hear complaints about the prices of their stuff. But quality has its price. They offer the best brands from all over. If you wanna buy cheaper gear with less quality you find lots of alternatives in Berlin.

Despite the fact that I am not young or handsome or fluent in German, the two staff members in the…read moreshop made me feel comfortable and treated me with great courtesy. They offered coffee and water (a hot day) and let me try on the clothes and wander through the shop (larger than expected) to look at various things. I spent about $100 and am pleased with the items I bought. I recommend this store to American leathermen who want to be treated politely.