Crowds Descend on Dresden Shopping Centers Ahead of christmas Markets
Dresden’s shopping areas experienced a rapid surge in activity on a recent Saturday, transitioning from emptiness to bustling crowds within an hour.The shopping center initially saw few shoppers, but quickly became congested, with particularly long lines forming at the single available restroom due to ongoing renovations on the lower floor.
The city center itself was also busy, with pedestrians filling Prager Straße and heading towards Altmarkt square. Preparations for the Christmas markets, slated to open on Wednesday, November 26th – earlier than usual, before the first Sunday of Advent – were already underway, drawing dozens of onlookers. Despite the sunny and mild November weather, the festive atmosphere hadn’t fully materialized.
Shoppers faced a nearly half-hour wait for a bratwurst before returning to find the department store packed and queues developing for the escalators. A subsequent visit to Aldi, Lidl, and Kaufland revealed Kaufland, recently renovated within the Kaufpark Dresden shopping center, as a major draw. The parking lot was full,with approximately half the vehicles bearing Czech license plates,and the Czech language was frequently heard within the store itself.
Kaufland’s Christmas assortment was already extensive, offering a wider selection and lower prices compared to Czech supermarkets. For example,a maxi Kinder egg cost less than 75 kroner,compared to around 140 kroner in the Czech Republic,and larger Kinder advent calendars were available for 150 kroner - a price unavailable domestically. This combination of price and choice led to a high proportion of Christmas sweet purchases being made by Czech shoppers, who were observed discussing options and recommendations with each other. One woman asked her husband to find a specific nougat candy with a red wrapper, while another man purchased a product based on a proposal from a fellow shopper. The selection included chocolates, calendars, tunnels, bishop’s sandwiches, nougat, marzipan, and other festive treats.
Many items advertised in Kaufland’s flyer were already sold out or heavily discounted, particularly cheeses, cold cuts, fabric softeners, and detergents.
Tho, the most striking observation was the length of the queues at the cash registers. Despite having over ten registers open,including self-service and scanner options,they proved insufficient to handle the volume of customers. Lines consisted of nearly a dozen shoppers with full carts each. One Czech customer remarked, “I haven’t experienced that here yet, and we come here quite regularly,” while another predicted even longer waits as Christmas approaches.
Interestingly, shoppers rarely utilized the available shopping scanners, which are commonly used to expedite purchases in Czech Kaufland stores and other Czech retailers. The article suggests Czech shoppers could speed up their German shopping experience by simply changing the store location within the Kaufland submission.
