Is there a store in Germany that is similar to Monoprix in France or Target in the USA? Looking for a quick stop for trendy women's/kid's fashions, accessories, cosmetics, local food/grocery items, etc.

Who on earth, in search of "trendy women's/kid's fashions" goes to Target or Monoprix? Why chase their equivalent anywhere else?

There are a few Primarks - and a few thousand Zaras and H&Ms. Why faff about with overpriced junk in second rate retailers?

Who on earth thinks that his editorializing is of any interest to anyone, anywhere?

I used to like Kaufhof, but I think it resembles a Macy's more than a Target.

Zara and H&M aren't really the same thing, they are just clothing stores, with some accessories. They are all over, anyway, many in the US now. Target and Monoprix are general purpose mini-dept. stores. I find Monoprix overpriced (and of course, very limited in what it carries, you can't go shopping for a good raincoat there, for example) and Target's quality dreadful. But Target is pretty cheap.

C&A has cheap clothing and accessories, but that's all. I thin they are better than Monoprix, actually, certainly much greater choice.
Primark doesn't sell all the stuff Monoprix does as far as I know. It doesn't sell groceries nor toiletries, although some cosmetics), does it? Monoprix also sells school supplies, luggage, books, lamps, dishes, you name it.

The answer is different in different areas because German is strongly regionalised and not all shops are Germany-wide; I am thinking of generalist stores like Toom or Kaufland (and there are a few such stores with different names), but for myself I would never buy clothes at either of those. The trick with these is that they are often in areas outside the main towns (sometimes in shopping centres) and can be hard to get to without a car. In cities you might be better off going to a department store for ease of access, but they will probably be more expensive. Probably the cheapest of such stores would be Karstadt, followed by Galleria Kaufhof.

Toom and Kaufland have a general range of household goods, clothing, toiletries, etc alongside groceries. If you are just after clothing, the suggestion of C & A is a good one. H & M is more fashionable clothing than C & A.

If you are looking for toiletries, Germany has what they call Drogerien (drug stores without the pharmacy aspect). Every shopping street has multiple Drogerien and they sell everything from toiletries to cat food to candles to baby clothes. dm (Drogerie-Markt), Ihr Platz, Rossmann, Müller, Budnikowsky are the main shops.

Lavandula

Rossmann has good cosmetics, love all the different Nivea products.


Galleria Kaufhof has about everything you could want including the food hall.

Sounds like I need to check if there is a Toom, Kaufland, Rossman or Kauthof in the towns. The regionalist of the stores makes sense.

I know C&A from France and H&M right her in the US, but not looking for a clothing store, but for something broader. Think a varied shopping list of items that you may not want to lug around, but may need to purchase there depending on needs - fitted raincoat, an umbrella, sun hat, face moisturizer, hair accessories, local food items to snack on the train, etc. Pretty easy to get that all at Monoprix in France or Target in US.

Aldi.

I am amazed that no one has mentioned the department stores - Karstadt and Kaufhof are the two big chains where you'll find a wide choice and also decent quality. These are the first address to go to if you want everything under one roof.
Then there are the malls - about every city has one. They are all owned and run by one big company, so the selection of shops inside is pretty much the same in all cities.

Hi Mariarosa,

Best bet for the items you list is to find them at different stores.

The fitted raincoat you could find at a H&M or a C&A, as you probably already know.

The umbrella or sun hat you could probably find in one of the smaller shops in a pedestrian zone, and the drogeries mentioned by Lavadula also sell cheap umbrellas.

Face moisturizer and hair accessories you can find at a drogerie or an apotheke.

Local food items and snacks for the train you can find in a bakery or cafe, or even at the food counter in the train station.

You may find that you enjoy walking down a shopping street and popping into one or two stores and browsing what they offer -- that's much more the norm here than finding every item in one store.

Oh, will also mention that you can find many of the items on your list (except for the raincoat and sun hat) in a large Edeka or Rewe.

Have fun as you plan!

s

You get an umbrella at the Müller. In fact, a decently sized Müller will have everything a Target has minus the food and clothing.

There are some Hema shops in Germany. It's a Dutch chain and similar to Target. I have no idea which towns/cities have Hema but you can fill in the name of a place at the bottom of their German website to see if there is one near you. http://www.hemashop.com/de/

We were near a REAL store where we not only got groceries but also the replacement camera I needed.