The Best Shopping in Copenhagen

Foodies, rejoice. Torvehallerne is a one-stop shop for several meals, snacks, and gourmet groceries or gastronomical gifts. It’s an airy, light-filled building with all kinds of purveyors, from fantastic coffee shops, chefs cooking fresh pasta and serving it hot to you at the counter, a farmers market outside, a tapas bar, you name it. If you’ve ever been to Florence, think of Mercato Centrale, but in a nicer setting and housing more variety. Ride your bike there to grab a bite or to spend the day enjoying its bounty.

Illum is one of two major Danish department store chains. The store is famous for its excellent selection and taste and features fashion, interior and design options as well as a large beauty section. It even features a delightful bakery with excellent breads and sweets. A shopping trip to Copenhagen isn’t complete without a visit to Illum.

Danish tobacco dominates the pipe tobacco scene and can be found in shops all over the world. As part of this tradition, Denmark also has a number of extremely skilled pipe artisans who craft handmade Danish pipes. The Danish Pipe Shop is staffed by incredibly friendly folks and has a team of knowledgeable staff eager to discuss the craft of pipe smoking, how pipes differ, and which tobacco they recommend. Prices range from cheap budget pipes (less than US$40) to high-end pipes costing hundreds of dollars. Even if you’re not a smoker, with its walls lined with widely varied pipes it is a great place to pop into for a look around.

Copenhagen’s pedestrian-only shopping street, Strøget, stretches from the city square (Radhusplasn) to Nyhavn (Kongens Nytorv) and is lined by shops, cafes, department stores and restaurants. Walking the street from end to end is an absolute must as part of any visit to Copenhagen. Set aside some extra time to enjoy the street performers and skilled buskers that line the street year-round.

This Nordic chain and local favorite specializes in items for the home. It places a heavy focus on design and functionality. Many products are changed out weekly, while other staples are more static. Inventory draws from exclusive content created for/by Søstrene Grene, while others are pulled from leading designers.

This is one of the best places to see Danish design featured all in one place. From the bathroom, to furniture, home accessories, kitchenware and lighting you can find many of the leading names in Danish design represented here.

Founded in 1925, Bang & Olufsen is a Danish company famous for its incredible audio quality and sleek visual style. Not limited to audio devices, it is well worth a visit to the B&O store to see the products they’re currently marketing to the Danish public.

Denmark is the home of Lego and if you’re traveling with kids in Copenhagen, it shouldn’t be missed. It’s located along the Stroget – the pedestrian shopping district in the city center of Copenhagen. You can either split up with one adult takes the kids to Lego and the other can browse the other interesting shops or you can do it all together (we held the Lego store out as a carrot to keep the kids engaged and in check). Flagship Lego stores have exclusive Lego sets that you can’t find elsewhere. There are also building stations and a fascinating video monitor that will bring a set to 3-D life if you hold the box in front of the camera. They also have a huge pick-a-brick wall where you can pick up missing pieces or just get creative.

This elegant store close to Kongens Nytorv and the bustling waterside bars of Nyhavn showcases two floors of classic 20th-century Danish design. Even if you’re not shopping for a new Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair or a Hans Wegner Wishbone Chair, it’s worth stopping by just to understand why Danish furniture from the middle of the last century has such a strong hold on design aficionados around the world. The pieces are expertly displayed, so Klassik is almost like a mini-museum—one in which the exhibitions are for sale, usually for a significant sum of money.

It’s easy to spend half a day exploring Copenhagen‘s street Jægersborggade. The block is lined with some of the city’s best shops and restaurants including Coffee Collective, Manfreds, Meyer’s Bakery, and my favorite ceramics studio, Keramiker. Ceramicist Inge Vincents can often be seen through the window carefully shaping her delicate white vases, cups, and bowls. Her pieces are so paper-thin that they take on an ethereal, translucent quality. While Inge’s pieces may look fragile, they are definitely still functional. In fact, chef Christian Puglisi uses her pieces at his famous restaurant Relae, located just up the street. I didn’t dare take a cup home in my suitcase, but lucky for me Inge ships to the United States.

This is my favorite design shop in Copenhagen. Dedicated to contemporary Danish design, Hay occupies a historic building overlooking the car-free Strøget district. You’ll find furniture and accessories inspired by midcentury design and pieces by designers including Leif Joergensen and Jakob Wagner.

This boutique glove shop has been creating gloves for more than 200 years and has the rare ability to claim that they are an official purveyor to Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark. It doesn’t look terribly fancy, but this place is well worth a look, especially for glove aficionados.

There are two reasons to pop into the two-story showroom Hay House. The first, and most important, is that this is one of the best places to see what’s new and interesting in contemporary Danish design. The store is filled with cool, colorful stuff, so much so that getting out without buying something can be a challenge. The second reason: From the upper floor you can take in a great view of Amagertorv, one of the city’s prettier squares.

If you want a one-stop place to shop, Magasin Du Nord is an absolute must and has its flagship store located on Kongens Nytorv immediately opposite the metro. While not the cheapest in Copenhagen, most of your major Nordic brands are represented in this sprawling department store. Magasin was founded in 1868 and boasts a massive building overflowing with all things Danish fashion and design. While the location on Kongens Nytorv is the primary one, you can also find Magasin in Field’s shopping center, Lyngby and Rodovre.

Vera Moda is a women’s clothing line run by the Danish company Besteller. It has been extremely succesful and has numerous locations around Copenhagen, though perhaps the most convenient of these is the store on Strøget.

From the formal to the casual, various patterns of the distinctive blue-and-white china that’s a familiar sight in Danish homes are artfully displayed in the three-story flagship store on Amagertorv. Upstairs you’ll find impeccably laid tables showcasing the china at its best, and there are often demonstrations by the painters who hand-decorate each piece. You can also learn more about the ultimate Danish china, Flora Danica, which was originally created in 1790 as a gift for Catherine the Great of Russia. It’s beautiful, historic . . . and shockingly expensive.

This jeweler has a reputation for excellence and its relationship with Danish Royalty. With a Danish heritage, the brand bears the label, “By appointment to Her Majesty The Queen of Denmark” and is known as the go-to jeweler for Denmark’s royalty. Of Georg Jensen’s many designs, one of the most popular among Danes is the daisy earrings and pendants, which are simple and elegant.

Design is one of Denmark’s great success stories. Given this close association with the country, it’s particularly fitting that Designmuseum Danmark is just around the corner from the Queen’s Palace. You’ll find scores of iconic Danish designs here—everything from Arne Jacobsen’s Egg and Swan chairs to Paul Henningsen’s Artichoke lamps—as well as stunning collections of fabric and porcelain, all housed in a historic former hospital. The exhibitions are excellent, and the gift shop is just as good as you would expect.

H&M is a globally recognized Swedish brand that focuses on delivering Scandinavian-inspired fashion to the masses at extremely reasonable prices. While you can find boutique H&M shops all over Copenhagen, the Amagertorv store is one of the largest and has both men’s and women’s collections. You’ll find that while some of the clothing is identical to what you’ll see outside Scandinavia, a lot of it has been tailored to align with current trends in Scandinavian fashion.