Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
wide range of shops with better stock levels than many in - town branches |
| Disadvantages: |
hassle to get there - takes a good 30 minutes from the city centre |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
Shopping City Süd (SCS) as it is known is one of the largest Shopping Centres in Europe, and is situated south of Vienna, although well connected to the public transport system. To get there you can either take the Badner Bahn (looks like a tram but is really a train), which leaves regularly from opposite the Opera house and takes approximately half an hour to get to Vösendorf (the station you should get out at is Vösendorf SCS). Otherwise there is a free bus to IKEA (also leaving from the Opera House – although you have to pay to get back (EUR 1.45) – departure times are on the IKEA website at www.ikea.at).
The Badner Bahn costs EUR 3 (£2) one way or if you have a travelcard for Vienna (zone 100) then it is just EUR 1.50. The Badner Bahn stops about 200m from one of the entrances to SCS. Otherwise of course there is the option of going by car, in which case you take the A2 (motorway) towards Graz and come off at Junction 7. There is car park space for around 8000 cars. If you have parked them I would advise that you remember near which entrance you were, as trying to find your car otherwise can rapidly become a bit of a headache.
As well as the main building, which is some 900m long, there are also free standing building which are home to the likes of Ikea and others, with their own parking spaces so rest assured you won’t have to lug wardrobes etc. the length of the place. So as far as the shopping goes, what is it like? You name it, it’s got it. Whilst a lot of the stores in SCS do have outlets in town, most of the outlets are not as big as this.
My reason for going initially was to see if the P&C (Peek & Cloppenberg) outlet had a different selection of clothes to the store in the Mariahilferstraße (see separate opinion!) although generally the selection was pretty similar. I went to Eduscho and Tschibo (there are branches in town on practically every street!) to see if they had got any of the things I was looking for that were on special offer left – stock was low in town, and they did have them there.
So I came back with assorted kitchen implements and stuff to help me to be tidier (hmmm… those of you who know me make laugh loudly…) Going there on a Saturday is near suicidal as it appears that the world and his wife and their screaming kids are there with you, although generally I found that checkout queueing time was not too bad, considering the number of shoppers. If you have time to go during the week, I would advise it as otherwise you can easily get caught up in the rush.
The actual centre is on two levels, with some shops like Peek and Cloppenberg having entrances on both floors, whilst other shops vary in size. Rest assured that almost all of the shops and stores that send out “Werbeplakat” – flyers that arrive in your letterbox or are left attached to your door seem to have some kind of presence at SCS, with companies like Kika (IKEA like) and Hervis (shoes) both having megastores there.
There are in excess of 300 shops in the centre, all of varying sizes, and there are also a lot of food places, from coffeeshops, cafés to fast food places – with Subway, McDonalds and Burger King all being represented in the latter category.
Of course if retail therapy doesn’t take your fancy, then you can also take a trip to SCS to relax, as there is a 9 screen multiplex cinema, a fitness centre, snooker/pool centre and a bowling alley, not to mention “Nachtschicht” which is a meat market/nightclub. Nachtschicht often has SMS clubbing nights (sponsored by One – one of Austria’s most prominent mobile phone networks) where you can chat people up by text message – if that is your thing – they send out frequent text messages to One for Me users reminding you about the events…
The shopping centre is open from 9:30-7:00 on weekdays with longer opening hours on Thursdays and Fridays when the shops are open until 9pm or 9:00-6:00pm on Saturdays, although some of the food outlets are only from 7:30am which can be useful if you want a bite to eat before hitting the A2 towards Graz. Overall the centre has everything you could need, and has a very good selection of shops, although some do not warrant a trip especially. It is an effort to get there (at least 30 mins from the city centre each way, although worth a trip out there if you want a break away from Mariahilferstraße, Kärntnerstraße and the Graben, and are looking for much more down to earth shops, with no premiums on prices. The only thing that lets it down is the fact that it is not that easy or convenient to get to - public transport provision is ok, although could be improved.
UPDATE: June 2004: Unfortunately I missed the bus back from Ikea this week - as various friends couldn't pick me up I had to grab a cab back home - you are talking EUR 30 into town (GBP 20) so be warned. If you do need a taxi, then the only taxi rank is outside entrance 5 of the SCS.
