Travel Blog: Thrifting My Way Through Berlin
By Sindhu Ananthavel
BERLIN- The storefront at Paul’s Boutique overflows with so much clothing — Hawaiian shirts, band tees and leather jackets — that the racks spill out onto the sidewalk, half of them covered by a tarp to shield them from a light July rain.
As a thrift shopper from California, I am looking for second-hand stores with low prices, but the majority of establishments I initially see here are dedicated to quality vintage — appropriately priced, but still out of my range. After some online digging I find that Paul’s Boutique, on Oderberger Strasse in Berlin Mitte, has the most attractive display.
The decor is lovingly eccentric. Action figures clutter shelves along the walls (“Not for sale,” my friend discovers after inquiring about one.). Posters crowd the walls, one of them signed by late American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, bordered by a glowing Levi’s logo. Metal music floats throughout the store.
This city is clearly full of sneakerheads — a room in Paul’s Boutique holds a dizzyingly tall wall of shoes. Shoes upon shoes upon shoes — and only the left shoe in each pair. A sign directs customers to ask at the counter for the matching right shoe.
Berliners appear to be fixated on Adidas and Puma — the majority of shirts, jackets and shoes I find feature both the brands. In a tour of the city a few days later, I discover that Adidas was founded in 1949 by German Adolf Dassler and Puma was founded by his elder brother Rudolf, with the two Bavarian brothers becoming business rivals after their own relationship crumbled. The rivalry has clearly lasted decades, evidenced by the array of clothing I see.
Price-wise, however, Paul’s Boutique is rather steep. After thorough digging I leave the boutique with a pair of short overalls for the equivalent of $10 and a peach Converse t-shirt at $6.
Next, I visit Pick ‘n Weight, Alte Schönhauser Str. 30, and this establishment uses a system I’m personally unfamiliar with: charging by weight. Items are color coded by price per kilogram, and there are several scales throughout the store for customers to test-weigh their clothes.
Here I find an enormous number of Disneyland and Florida graphic tees and sweatshirts — possibly remnants of old tourist trips? I’m amused by the other U.S. memorabilia on the racks here as well. Apparently Berliners like visiting Kentucky and South Carolina.
From a burly middle aged man in a biker jacket to a gaggle of teenage girls with dyed hair, shoppers of all ages crowd the place — with only one changing room! — and I’m dodging people constantly. This just might be the most popular thrift spot in the area.
Here I find my holy grail thrift prize: a pair of lace-up, green, heeled boots that fit perfectly. The boots are at a fixed price of $35, as all shoes and accessories are fixed price and not by weight. I entered the store with the $20 worth of euros cash in hand, but become possessed by some otherworldly spirit at the sight of the boots, and immediately leave the store and take the U-Bahn to the nearest bank to withdraw cash. The boots are still there after my 10-minute manic cash withdrawal, and I immediately purchase them.
How ironic that the store’s price-by-weight system is what fascinates me the most, but the fixed-price boots are the only purchase I make. Though I’m immensely content with that purchase, I don’t feel the satisfaction of completing a good thrift haul until the last store I drop by: Rack and White, on Brunnenstraße 12.
Rack ‘n White is a two - minute walk from the hotel I’m staying in, and one I initially overlooked because of its aesthetic — clean, sparse, and upscale, which rang alarm bells in my head that called out “Expensive Expensive Expensive!”
I’m quickly proven wrong after walking outside and spotting a 3-euro price tag — just more than $3 — on a denim skirt — the lowest price I have seen in any of the thrift stores I’ve been in. My friend and I immediately head inside.
There’s a striking amount of Zara and H&M, reminiscent of the fast fashion that litters thrift stores I frequent in the U.S., where even the New York Times has warned that fast fashion discards are ruining the thrift store experience.
However, alongside the fast fashion are well-loved, high quality clothes, many of them affordable vintage items. I spend 20 minutes trying on leather jackets until I realize there’s no room in my suitcase for one. I leave with a long sleeve button up for $10, a short-sleeve patterned button up for $9, a white tank top for $6 —that seems suspiciously fast-fashion-esque but is very cute nonetheless —and two pairs of earrings and a necklace that amount to $7. With my sizeable $32 haul, I’ve reached the satisfaction level I’ve been chasing since my first Paul’s Boutique visit.
The cashier tells me the store has been open for two years, struggling after COVID-19 but now on the upswing. They have two locations in Berlin, both with the same clean, sparse look.
Clearly, the thrifting scene in Berlin is more vibrant than what I’m used to, with small independent owners, unlike in the U.S. where the main outlets — such as Salvation Army and Goodwill — may be affiliated with missionary work or other larger agendas. Those stores are absent here, which is extremely appealing to me.
Even in thrifting, I’m constantly worried about who I’m purchasing from. I used to frequent Destined for Grace in Santa Barbara — giddy over its low prices — until I discovered the organization does missionary work in Haiti and funnels thrift store profits into their efforts, which I’m not keen on funding.
Here in Berlin, however, I found small-scale shops with diverse customers and a varied clothing selection. With their warm atmospheres, in touch with the thrumming heart of the city, I felt welcomed in all the stores.
Sindhu Ananthavel is a student at UC Santa Barbara pursuing Communication and Journalism.
