The KaDeWe department store in Berlin
Up to 100,000 customers from around the world proceed daily to continental Europe’s largest department store, the KaDeWe in Berlin. 60,000 sqm of sales space on seven floors and some 2,000 staff await them. Built in the “Golden Age” of glamorous department stores Berlin’s KaDeWe, an abbreviation for Kaufhaus des Westens (department store of the West) opened its doors to the public in 1907.
Founded by business merchant Adolf Jandorf to serve the growing affluent middle class he chose the position with an eye on the future. The suburbs Schoeneberg and Charlottenburg were independent towns back then, already on the brink of growing together to form the Greater area of Berlin. Trams and subways with the U-Bahn stop Wittenbergplatz proved to be a big advantage.
From day one  the KaDeWe was a big success with the Berlin clientele and visitors from afar alike. Siam’s King Chulalongkom (Rame V.) and his entourage went a few months after the opening on a huge shopping spree, dined in true princely style in the imperial lounge and spent 25,00RM (Reichsmark). This was hugely publicised and helped to impress Berlin’s nobility, upper class and other influential clientel.
Well known international visitors from all walks of life who lived or visited Berlin in the "Golden Twenties"  included Russian poet Wladimir Majakowski and British historian Eric Hobsbawm. Vladimir Nabokov even set the scene for his novel "King, Queen, Knave" in the KaDeWe (he used the initials KDV in the book).
The store's colourful history reflects Germany’s turmoil of the 20th century. The Jewish Warenhaus Hermann Tietz AG (retail giant HERTIE) bought the hugely successful department store in 1927. A couple of years later the Great Recession struck and the owners of KaDeWe struggled with the final blow coming in 1932 as banks refused to give further credits, all foreshadowing the anti-Jewish policies which were to follow with Hitler’s election victory in January 1933.
A countrywide boycott organised by the Nazi party (NSDAP), against Jewish shops, lawyers, doctors etc. forced the huge department store to keep its doors closed too on 1 April 1933. Ownership changed hands with the creditor banks taking over and more and more Jewish shareholders and employees were dismissed.
In 1943, during WWII an US- American fighter plane crashed into the department store and the building was badly damaged. The archive was lost in the flames and only a few historic pieces remained.
The store’s reopening in 1950 symbolised a new beginning and a sign of better times to come. 180,000 visitors were counted on that historic day in the history of the KaDeWe. The Symbol for better times website provides an interview with one of the legendary food hall's shop assistants (in German with a slight Berlin dialect).
KaDeWe then went from strength to strength and in the immediate days after the fall of the wall in November 1989 the largest number of visitors in the store’s history flooded the floors of this shopping haven eager for a taste of consumer culture Western style.
Todays visitors to the KaDeWe can mingle with celebrities and indulge in the restaurant complex situated on the glass-roofed seventh floor or wander through the famous food department on the sixth floor. There is also a concierge booking service available;  hotel rooms, to theater tickets and much more. If you don't like queues whilst shopping, you can use the personal shopping assistant, who does it all for you from offering shopping advise, ushering you to the right departments, organizing payments and deliveries either to your Berlin address or anywhere in the world.
Regular changing art exhibitions gourmet events, book readings, a huge variety of events take place in the store on a regular basis.  Check out the KaDEWe website for the latest events.
