Checkpoint u. Cinema

The room gives it away before the clothes do. Checkpoint u. Cinema occupies a former cinema on Mehringdamm, and nobody stripped out the good parts: there is still a chandelier, and a lit round ceiling that makes a rail of second hand coats look better than it has any right to.

The family has been trading here for more than thirty years, which in Bergmannkiez terms makes them furniture. It is not a curated shop and it does not pretend to be. It is a proper general second hand store, which is a category Berlin is quietly losing.

What you will find

Women, men and children, all three, which is rare. Blouses, dresses, coats, jumpers, skirts, shoes, hats and bags on one side. Shirts, blazers, leather trousers, sports jackets and cardigans on the other. Some of the stock is new rather than second hand, mixed into the same rails.

No era curation, no theme. You dig, and the digging is the point.

What it costs

This is the cheap end, honestly cheap. A blouse runs about 19€, a corduroy jacket 49€, a short wool coat 69€ and often less on sale. If you are furnishing a winter wardrobe rather than hunting a single piece, start here.

Go if

You want volume for your money. You are shopping for a whole family at once. You like a shop where the person behind the counter has been there since before you moved to Berlin.

Skip it if you came for labels. That is three streets away, not here.