This might seem unimportant to some but it's how I'm deciding where to go!
I've been to both cities on culture/night life trips but never checked out the shopping scene. I recently lost 37KG and in dier need of a new wardrobe. Where can I find cheap good second hand stores and cooler markets? Where should a pretty broke student refurnish her wardrobe?

Thanks in advance!

A "pretty broke" anybody probably should replenish it close to HOME. Which currency offers the best exchange rate?

Home is much more expensive. I'm from Israel, clothes here are 125%-200% more expensive and if you're buying a whole new closet, it's cheaper to fly somewhere else.
Exchange rate is slightly better in Euros.

I'm pretty sure there are 2nd hand/thrift/consignment shops in your home city. Unless you live in Europe - does it make <i>any</i> sense to travel there to buy a new wardrobe??

(The $ - £/€ exchange rates are both very good right now - but that doesn't mean this makes sense)

OH --didn't see your second post. BTW -- the exchange rate is not better for €. Since the buying power of 1£ in the UK is not the same as 1€ in Germany

You can't really compare 1£/5.9 ILS to €1/4.9 ILS

Yes, Obviously there's a different buying power for the two, that's why euro is slightly better, but it's not a factor since when you add the two up (exchange rate and buying power) you get very similar prices... So I need other categories to judge upon. IDEAS?

I haven't been to Berlin but in London there is great shopping. There are very few second hand shops (charity shops) in central London but if you catch the tube or bus to the outer areas there are quite a few, they tend to be in pockets, usually where rent is low.

Primark is about the cheapest clothing chain I can think of, there is a huge store on Oxford St which is usually packed, but quality is low. Marks and Spencers have some good sales where you can pick up things cheaply.

There are a few markets in London but I've never found them particularly cheap or with clothes I wanted to buy but that's probably just me.

If I was going to London to replenish a whole wardrobe, I'd concentrate on the outer reaches of London where there are cheaper stores and more second hand shops. If you want to combine sightseeting with shopping, there are quite a few charity shops in Windsor and also Cambridge.

Kay

There is alos a new outlet mall near London I think it is called Westfield. There is an Oxfam shop off the King's rd near Chelsea Old Town Hall

I think London is better than Berlin for your needs, but both would work. You might also consider Barcelona. Or, really, Southeast Asia.

"There is alos a new outlet mall near London I think it is called Westfield. "

Cobblers.

The two Westfields are about as far from being outlet malls as it's possible to imagine. There's no outlet mall within 80 miles of London - though there are a few clearance centres for brands like Burberry, if anyone in Europe wears it these days (big in Japan, though).

As Kay says, no-one undercuts Primark: google "charity shops London" for hundreds (going on thousands) of second hand clothes shops - including lots in single digit postcodes like N1, NW1, SE1 and even W1 if you walk a hundred yards beyond the tourist hangouts. Even W8, where house prices are in the tens of millions, has charity shops along Kensington Church St and the western end of Kensington High St: ditto to the west and north of Notting Hill Gate (W14, but house prices as if there were only one digit in the postcode)

Spitalfields and the markets round Camden Lock (as well as the shops in and off Carnaby St) are interesting to look at though rarely budget priced but you never know who's trying to clear what well below cost.

Tal_Shavit.

Have you considered Amsterdam? Lots of cheap shopping, and often cheap flights too.

Links to Amsterdam shopping:

http://goamsterdam.about.com/od/wher...opshopping.htm

http://goamsterdam.about.com/od/wher...hingstores.htm

http://www.amsterdam.info/markets/waterlooplein/

Actually, there is also some good cheap shopping right at the airport.

Thanks for all the advices! I think I'm going for London.. though I'll check the amsterdam option (never been as well)..