Where to Shop in Zurich West

It seems like every other person in Zurich—at least among the label-conscious, under 40-set—has a Freitag, the cult messenger bags made from old truck tarps, with no two alike. While brothers Markus and Daniel Freitag started their brand back in 1993, their flagship Zurich store only opened in 2006. The wait was worth it: the coolest shop in the city consists of 19 stacked shipping containers with a rooftop for a birds-eye view of the industrial neighborhood below.

This five-year pop-up, housed in black-painted metal and glass containers, opened in 2012 with seven boutiques. Among the best is Edition Populaire, which stocks limited edition collections of household and drink items, like a gin and tonic set of Gents tonic made with gentian root from the Swiss Appenzell region and gin from the small Black Forest distillery Monkey 47. Photo © Fabian Fretz/Frau Gerolds Garten.

Swiss film school grad Rolf Hellat’s straw hats and caps, like the fedora-shaped Singapore Sling, have acquired a certain cachet (as testament, they’re sold at Opening Ceremony in New York City). His first store—a minuscule blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gem—opened next-door to Freitag in 2012.

Zurich’s hip fashionistas love this corner shop for Eliane Diethelm and Joanna Skoczylas’s chic, edgy takes on the classic LBD as well as more colorful designs that include a viscose number that shimmers from green to purple.

The striking Im Viadukt opened in 2010 beneath century-old stone arches with Zurich’s first permanent covered market and 50 vendors. At Berg und Tal, owners Simon Rietschin and Daniel Rufli stock their food shop with items sourced mostly from within Switzerland and purchased directly from the producer, from sausages to the more unexpected, like Lindenblüten teas from the Swiss mountainside and absinthe made from angelica and grande wormwood from Val-de-Tavers. The wine shop Südhang sells small production bottlings including those made with grapes grown around Zurich, and Tritt-Käse specializes in local raw milk cheeses. Photo © Ralph Hut/Im Viadukt.