Thank goodness there are shops in Germany to cater forversorgencatering for the homesickheimwehkrankhomesick English, Scottish and Irish, and for those — like me, a Welshwoman — who simply love products from the British Isles. The sense of familiarity provided by certain brandMarkebrands, foods or styles of clothing can transport you home, or send you on a journey to another land.
In diesem Video von Babbel, unserem Kooperationspartner zu diesem Thema, erklärt Anne von British Shopping, welche Lebensmittel britische Expats in Deutschland am meisten vermissen.
MUNICH
O’Leary’s Irish Shop
Step into O’Leary’s and travel back in time to another era: the customer comes first, clothing is made to to lasthaltenlast, and quality is of immense importance. O’Leary’s is not your average modern shop offering your usual shopping experience. This is the place to go for modern classic clothing, whether it’s Irish knitwear for men and women, tweed jackets or hats and scarves. Other goodies (ifml.)Leckereiengoodies include marmaladeZitrusmarmelademarmalade and shortbread biscuits (UK)Mürbeteiggebäckshortbread biscuits, while Irish whiskey adds a quintessentialdurch und durchquintessential taste of Ireland.
Maura O’Leary-Hunter set up the shop in 1992, having left her career as a stockbrokerBörsenmakler(in)stockbroker. “I decided that if I left finance, I would do something totally different: just open a shop, I thought. I didn’t have any previous experience. My motivation came from being Irish and being proud of the products that come from Ireland.”
My motivation came from being Irish and being proud of the products that come from Ireland
What started as something exclusively Irish now includes other European products, like British Barbour waxedWachs-waxed jackets, Breton striped T-shirts and handmade Austrian shoes. No matter what their origin is, the unifyingvereinendunifying factor is quality: natural fibreFaserfibres, zero chemicals and sweaters made from 100 per cent wool.
“We take pleasure in the products, because you can see and feel the quality,” says O’Leary-Hunter. “If a gentleman comes in and buys, say, a jacket, you can enjoy selling it to him because you know it is perfection and that you’re selling a product with which he will be happy for a long time.”
The shop’s trusted sourcingBeschaffung, Bezugsourcing of products increasingly to appeal to sb.bei jmdm. Anklang findenappeals to young people, too, who tend to be aware of the benefits of buying quality regional products that haven’t, for example, exploited child workers in the clothing supply chain.
Steven Krol recently took over from O’Leary-Hunter as the shop’s owner and introduced a slightly “fresher feel” to the place. The nature of the Irish goods sold there has also changed over time. “They used to be the product of cottage industries, but they have become far more sophisticated, so the standard and design of the garment is higher and appeals much more to the German customer,” he says. In fact, around 90 per cent of the shop’s customers are German. Regular customers are “our bread and butter”, Krol adds.
The shop also attracts celebrities, including people from TV and theatre, who need classic clothing such as tweed jackets for acting roles. Customers can place their orders online, too.
O’Leary’s Irish Shop
Müllerstr. 37, 80469 Munich
www.olearys-irish-shop.com
MECKENHEIM (NEAR BONN)
The British Shop
This shop claims to be the largest supplier of British lifestyle products and fashion in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Elisabeth and Wolf Siebel set up the family business 25 years ago, and it is a treasure troveFundgrubetreasure trove of all things British. Here, traditional clothing, ranging from Barbour jackets to Liberty blouses, to vie for sth.um etw. wetteifernvies for attention with pots of Marmite, British tea, plaid blankets, royal-family souvenirs and even smart gardening tools.
“‘Made in Britain’ is an indicatorHinweisindicator of best and finest quality, so if you’re aware of good quality and uniquenessEinzigartigkeituniqueness, you will always find something special in the variety of our products,” says executive assistant Robert Siebel.
“My family always held a fascination for Great Britain, but it was difficult to find British products in Germany,” he says. “The simple intention was to transfer the unique British lifestyle to Germany and make other Anglophile people happy, while giving them a closer shopping facility than travelling to the UK.”
My family always held a fascination for Great Britain, but it was difficult to find British products in Germany
It all started as a mail-order business, run from the Siebel family home in Meckenheim, near Bonn. A few years later, the family set up a company not far from their home with the idea of expanding the business. They added British country fashion, with labels such as Barbour and DAKS. Today, the shop is known for its thick, glossyglänzendglossy catalogues and sends out ten different editions each year. Customers can also buy online and in the shop in Meckenheim.
The British Shop
Auf dem Steinbüchel 6, 53340 Meckenheim
www.the-british-shop.de
BERLIN
The English Scent
Follow your nose to discover this delight of a shopdieser entzückende Ladenthis delight of a shop with a range of scentDuft, Geruchscents that to be evocative of sth.etw. heraufbeschwörenare evocative of England. Store manager Lothar Ruff founded the business in 1994, following his career as a dramaturge in Zurich and Berlin. Ruff had discovered a great passion for English fragrances at an early age. He decided to open his own shop because the scents he liked were so difficult to come by in Germany. His daughter, Julia Ruff, now helps him with the family business.
“We enjoy inspiring people with our exceptional quality and range of extraordinary English fragrances to help cultivate, to maintainaufrechterhaltenmaintain and to pass sth. onetw. weitergebenpass on this English artistryKunstfertigkeitartistry,” she says.
We enjoy inspiring people with our exceptional quality and range of extraordinary English fragrances
As well as shopping at the store, customers can order scented products from an extensive catalogue: the shop acts as a distributor for Anglia-Perfumery of London, for example. It also sells aftershaves, shower gels and bath oils, body lotions, soaps, hair and shaving products. The most popular articles are Pears soap, the Easy Shave Oil and fragrances from the Anglia-Perfumery, especially Somerset, Imperial Lime and Park Royal.
Each scent tells a story. Park Royal, for example, smells of a forest walk in autumn, says Julia Ruff, who particularly enjoys the moment each time a person finds “his or her fragrance”.
The shop’s customers like the idea of English eccentricity and traditional English culture. “The uniqueness and extravagance of the fragrances give the customers an idea of the former British Empire,” says Julia.
The English Scent
Goethestr. 15, 10625 Berlin
www.english-scent.de
Chelsea Farmers Club
Chelsea Farmers Club in Berlin is a gentlemen’s outfitters selling daywear and party clothing, ranging from dinner jackets to your standard smart suit, as well as clothes for hunting. It’s all done with plenty of British eccentricity and a quirkyverschroben, schrägquirky sense of humour. The “Club” also produces its own newspaper and to hostveranstalten, ausrichtenhosts a series of bizarre events for its voluntaryfreiwillig, ehrenamtlichvoluntary members, such as group jam-making jamboreeausgelassenes Festjamborees and concerts. “We don’t take anything seriously or to tinkerbasteln, tüftelntinker and mess around with the Chelsea Farmers Club machine every day,” says Christoph Tophinke, whose brainchild (ifml.)Geistesprodukt, Ideebrainchild it is.
Traditional British clothing is very simple. ... It is perfect for lazy people who still have fun getting dressed up
Tophinke, who used to write and produce television concepts, says he opened the store in 2005 to compensate for a lackMangellack of attractive, well-made dinner jacketSmokingdinner jackets, morning coat (UK)Cutaway, Cutmorning coats and wellington boot (UK)Gummistiefelwellington boots in Berlin. “Traditional British clothing is very simple,” he adds. “We have found this fascinating up to now. It is perfect for lazy people who still have fun getting dressed up.”
Tophinke aims to take the fear out of formal wear, to show that well-cut suits are nothing bad and that it is perfectly all right to wear a slightly military look. His customers don’t want “fashion”, but they do want to dress well. Now, Tophinke has opened an online shop, too. The idea is “to be supposed to be sth.für etw. gehalten werdensupposed to be quite modern”, he says.
Chelsea Farmers Club has none of the boring sameness of many modern shops. Tophinke describes it instead as a “sweets shop for adults”, equipped with a large bar and living-room area: “You don’t have to buy anything here. That tends to happen incidentallyzufällig, beiläufigincidentally. We leave people in peace and don’t hit them over the head until they reach the tillKassetill.” There are other locations, too — in Düsseldorf and, it is said, in Timbuktu.
Chelsea Farmers Club
Schlüterstr. 50, 10629 Berlin
www.chelseafarmersclub.de
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