Member Advice on Shopping in Holstebro

After reading and enjoying Moose’s op on Denmark, I felt I should enter the fray and add an op about shopping in Denmark. My mum is Danish and I estimate that if I add up all the time that I have visited Denmark through the years, I have spent 2 years of my life there. Shopping in Denmark is something that I am a bit of an expert on – mainly because I spend so much time enjoying this relaxing past time on my visits!

Ciao ...
...a town. I’ve chosen Holstebro as this town contains most of the shops that I have highlighted in my op and it’s the site of my favourite store – Bahne. Plus, there really isn’t much else to do in Holstebro except shop! Holstebro is in Northern Jutland (Jylland if you’re Danish). But this is a general op, as I wanted people to find it helpful wherever anyone chooses to travel in Denmark.


Gift Shopping
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After reading and enjoying Moose’s op on Denmark, I felt I should enter the fray and add an op about shopping in Denmark. My mum is Danish and I estimate that if I add up all the time that I have visited Denmark through the years, I have spent 2 years of my life there. Shopping in Denmark is something that I am a bit of an expert on – mainly because I spend so much time enjoying this relaxing past time on my visits!

Ciao suggested that I should write my op as part of a town. I’ve chosen Holstebro as this town contains most of the shops that I have highlighted in my op and it’s the site of my favourite store – Bahne. Plus, there really isn’t much else to do in Holstebro except shop! Holstebro is in Northern Jutland (Jylland if you’re Danish). But this is a general op, as I wanted people to find it helpful wherever anyone chooses to travel in Denmark.

Gift Shopping
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Stores
When I travel to foreign places I like to bring back a souvenir and as the occasion requires, a little something for friends and family. This would therefore, require a trip to a gift shop. Most High Streets in Denmark are a little restricted in variety in this respect, so I will provide a little information on the choices. In the old days when I first travelled to Denmark there were independent shops selling gifts, china, kitchen equipment, lighting, etc. However, most of these were taken over by 3 chains and each of the shops within these chains basically sell the same goods.

These chains stores are:

Imerco (located in Store Torv (Town Square) in Holstebro)
Inspiration (located in Brotorvet in Holstebro)
Kop and Kande (not in Holstebro)

My favourite is Imerco out of this bunch – mainly because they tend to have the better deals, but I always visit all of them. If you see something in one shop, it’s worth shopping around to the other two – you never know, one of them may have it on special offer.

In addition there is my favourite store in this category:-

Bahne (located in Nørregade in Holstebro)

These are a little less widespread – not in every high street. I personally love the Bahne store in Holstebro, as the buyer there loves glass and you can get some gorgeous glass pieces, which just can’t be bought elsewhere.

Goods
In gift shops what can you expect to buy:-

 Royal Copenhagen (commemorative plates, figurines, china, candlesticks, vases, glassware) – Very collectable
 Holmegaard – now owned by Royal Copenhagen so some glass is marketed under Royal Copenhagen and others as Holmegaard – Very collectable.
 Other Scandinavian glass houses such as Kosta Boda, Dansk Glas Kunst, etc also tend to sell in these shops
 Silverware – Georg Jensen, Stelton
 Kitchenware – Bodum, a great variety of salt and pepper cellars
 Candles – you may think this is a strange thing to include – but candles (lys) in Denmark are big business – and you can get a wide variety of colour and type. It’s even possible to get tea lights in the shape of various flowers.

In tourist areas such as Copenhagen (København), Ebeltoft, Odense, etc, you will still find some independent gift shops. Also, its worth visiting either the Royal Copenhagen factory (where there is a shop), or the main Royal Copenhagen shop in central Copenhagen – these both contain sections for factory seconds.

Tools
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A strange thing to buy you might say – but no, you can get some great deals on tools, and tools that just can’t be bought in England. My brother who is a painter and decorator has bought a wallpaper system from a shop called Flügger Farver (there are branches throughout Denmark including Holstebro where it is located on the North ringroad) which he bought at about half the price he could buy in England. I have also bought Sandvik tools at a large market at greatly reduced prices (The market is called Stumpemarked (in Herning, SE of Holstebro) and I have already written an op about it.) There are a number of tool shops and they are generally located on the outskirts of town.

Clothes and Shoes
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Clothes are quite expensive in Denmark and also dare I say not much of a variety. I have bought one or two pieces over the years, but it doesn’t seem to be a place where you can go on a major shopping spree for clothes! There are some well known chain stores such as Benetton and H & M which you will find in most high streets. For cheaper designer clothes and shoes it’s worth looking in the large hypermarket type shops, as they sometimes get offers much in the same way as Tesco (OBS and Bilka – more on these later).

As far as shoes are concerned there are excellent shops such as Ecco – but again the prices are expensive – though it’s worth looking at the sale items. Moose has things to say about shoe shops in Denmark having found a pair that she loves, but I wonder if she has tried a pair of clogs! Danes still wear clogs if you look hard – they are normally worn for work – so you may see nurses wearing white clogs, or car mechanics wearing black clogs. If you work on a building site – it’s even possible to get steel toe-capped clogs!! Most shoe shops sell them, as do hypermarkets, or for tradesmen, look in the DIY shops.

For the best Clothes and Shoe Shops in Holstebro look along Nørregade which is the main High Street.

Jewellery
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Just to let you know, they use different categories of gold in Denmark – 8 carat gold is the common standard rather than 9 carat. Again look along Nørregade which is the main High Street in Holstebro.

Danish Pastries
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My mouth just waters at the thought. What we buy in the UK as Danish pastry is generally the breakfast pastries, and they are incomparable to the true Danish afternoon pastry which just melts in your mouth (this is called wienerbrød)! They are mostly sold in long thin flat pieces and most contain an almond paste filling or chocolate. They are made fresh every day by the bakers and they take hours to make properly as they are rested in between layers of butter being added. So yes, they are slightly full of calories, but eat and enjoy – you just can’t buy them anywhere else the same!! There are lots of independent bakeries still in operation which are open 7 days a week. I would suggest that you ask locally for someone to recommend to you which is their favourite baker – it does make a difference. I also love cakes that are full of Nougat (not the nougat we know, but more of a fudgy type mixture). However, if you don’t like marzipan make sure you ask in the bakers – Danes generally love the stuff (and yep, that includes me!) You may decide to buy a pastry to bring home for others to try or just so you can gorge yourself again when you return home (I’ve been known to buy them on the way to the airport and then stuffed them in my hand luggage). They do freeze quite well and all you need to do is to warm it through in a low oven for a few minutes.

Supermarkets
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Again there is a variety and it’s good to know! Føtex (Vestergade in Holstebro) is one of the best, carrying the biggest variety of goods (in my opinion), in other words you can get some English food there! However, Activsuper is often cheaper.

Cheaper supermarkets are Netto, Aldi, Fakta (Østegade in Holstebro) and Rema1000 – you may have seen Netto and Aldi in the UK – they are German companies and sell food cheaper, but they don’t store a great variety. I would say that the Danish versions of these stores are better than their English counterparts.

Hypermarkets – Kvickly Xtra (located off Sønderbrogade) and Bilka (located on the North Ringroad). These stores sell clothes, hardware, electrical goods, etc, in addition to food. They are usually located on the outskirts of large towns. However, don’t be fooled into thinking they are the cheapest, often they aren’t good value for food unless something is on special offer. Any designer clothes that they stock are generally on special offer and only a limited amount available. Just to let you know A-Z is the non-food version of Bilka, there is an A-Z in Herning which is to the South East of Holstebro.

Goods
Things to look out for in supermarkets.

 Beer – the price does not include cost of the bottle – this will be shown separately (+pant) and generally at a cost of DKK 1.5 or so. The cost of the bottles is a deposit that is returned when you return the bottles. Danes are great at this as 98% of bottles are returned – this includes soft drink bottles but not wine bottles. The return deposit is often in the format of a receipt which you can take off the cost of any further goods – most bottle returns are automated machines.

 Schnapps – you can’t have beer without schnapps! The most famous one is Red Aalborg, but there are some more reasonably priced alternatives such as Svenborg. Again the bottles are returnable to the supermarket and the deposit will be refunded.

 Sweets – Danes prefer dark chocolate and most chocolate boxes are dark and not milk chocolate. They will also include a high instance of marzipan! How do you like liquorice – yummy – Danish liquorice is often salty (so don’t eat if you have high cholesterol), but I love it. It is an acquired taste – so be warned!

 Remoulade – this is a salad cream crossed with sandwich spread type dressing – usually eaten with fish – I like it on cheese though!

 Cheese – if you like strong flavoured cheeses (we aren’t just talking Danish blue here) head off to the cheese counters and give a few a taste – many contain caraway seeds, and they look quite rubbery, and are best cut with a wire cutter.

 You may also want to look at pickle type things such as asier (pickled gherkins but not like our English ones), and pickled sliced cucumber.

Antiques
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Ooh, another favourite pastime of mine – shopping for antiques or mainly collectibles in Denmark. Great place is the Herning Stumpermarked, but as this is held only twice a year, you may want some more info. Most antique shops will concentrate on Danish antiques (obviously), but if you are a collector of English antiques you will occasionally find a treasure – I have found a few pieces of Art Deco very cheaply. A lot of antique shops seem to be open by appointment – so you will need to be brave and phone the number on the sign in the door. My favourite place for antiques is the Silkeborg area – especially a huge place in a village called Gammel Ry (south of Silkeborg). As for Holstebro, there is quite a good antique shop which is located in the town centre in Brotorvet.

Cars
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This is a great place to buy a car if you want to buy one abroad. Danish VAT (MOMS) currently stands at 22% and therefore, the car manufacturers sell cars cheaper than the English standard price before tax as an incentive to Danes to buy a new car. I have discussed the purchase of a car in Denmark with a dealer, and there was no problem, but I decided to keep my old car and didn’t pursue the deal.

Shopping Around
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You may think, it sounds like I will have to do lots of shopping around to get the bargains – not true in Denmark. All the supermarkets send out a catalogue of their special offers once a week to all households, and most other shops including gift shops either send them out weekly or monthly. The catalogues are delivered free with the local free papers at least twice a week (Wednesday and Saturday). So, just collect up the catalogues, make a cup of tea, and sit down for half an hour comparing the offers whilst eating a piece of Danish pastry – then you know where you need to go for what you want to buy. Great system – saves lots of leg work, and as they recycle all that paper – its not that bad environmentally.

Gift wrap
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There really are very few shops where you can’t get something gift wrapped – that includes supermarkets. At a supermarket there will be a place where you can gift wrap after payment. Generally you will need to pay DKK1 per metre of wrapping paper (that’s less than 10 per metre) and you will have to do the wrapping yourself. But in other shops, you can ask for goods to wrapped free of charge (in fact a gift shop will ask you if you want it wrapped). If it’s a delicate gift, they will make sure there is enough bubble wrap and cardboard to make it secure for travelling.

Shop assistants
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Be warned, Danish shop assistants like to be helpful and will ask you if you want help (if you are English, this is often an alien concept!). Just say “Nej Tak” (pronounce nigh tug and means, no thanks) and they will leave you to it. Or if you want help, just say, “Yes please” in English and likely they will talk to you in perfect English in return!

Payment
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If you aren’t using Cash and are using credit or debit cards you will need some reassurance. Strange but true. Danes use a system called Dankort, whereby when they use this card, they swipe the card and then they input the amount and a pin number – so the customer is in charge of the card and reduces fraud. This doesn’t work with English credit or debit cards – even if you have your pin number. You will have to get them to get out the old swipe card credit card machines, and some shops in provincial areas may even have thrown these away. In these places you will be expected to pay cash – just go to an ATM machine and get cash that way – this may be the easiest in this situation.

Opening Times
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Many of you have become accustomed to the English way of life where there are supermarkets open 24 hours and the quaint idea of half day closing on Wednesday has long been thrown out of the window. In this case, the opening times of shops in Denmark may be a little bit of a culture shock. High Street shops are generally open 10am – 5pm Monday to Thursday, 10am – 8pm Friday, 9am – 1pm Saturday and not open at all on Sunday (yes and I do mean that Saturday is half day closing!) However, there is such a thing is Lang Lørdag (Long Saturday), which is generally the first Saturday in a month where the high street stores will remain open to 4pm and every Saturday in December will also be included in this.

Supermarkets will often keep longer hours of 8am – 8pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm on Saturday (some will close earlier and some later on Saturdays) and then bigger supermarkets are shut on Sunday. The smaller supermarkets (mainly Aldi and Spar) will be open 10am – 4pm on Sunday. There are also some convenience stores (corner shops) which will open a little later on Saturday or Sunday.

Bakers – they will be open early from 8am and many stay open until 7pm – Monday to Saturday. They will also open on Sundays but will often shut mid afternoon.

This is useful information if you are in Denmark for a weekend, as if you want to do some shopping you need to be quick on Saturday morning! I’m not certain if this holds true in Copenhagen – I’ve not been there in ages, and the stores may open on Saturday afternoon, but I’m pretty certain they are still shut on Sunday there.

Two very useful Danish words
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Udsalg – Sale
Tilbud – Bargain

Honestly – you don’t need to speak Danish in Denmark – most people speak Danish with a perfect American accent (as a result of watching too much television, which is not dubbed but carry Danish subtitles). If you want to try a bit of Danish while you are out shopping – be warned it’s really hard to get your tongue round, but they will love you for trying – but will then likely just start talking to you in English anyway!

Ok I think that about covers it – happy shopping if you ever travel to Denmark and especially if you travel to Holstebro! I’m biased on this subject and go twice a year anyway. But if you are in any doubt, go read Moose’s op on Denmark and see why she loves it too.

Thank you to Moose for trying to help me get the category set up.
 

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