Apartment

Location: Berlin

The big selling point: A purpose-built underground bunker rife with the latest from emerging designers.

What's in store: Most retailers attempt to use their floor space in the most profitable way, packing in merchandise to get a maximum return on every square foot. But ever the renegade, Apartment takes the opposite tack, seemingly forgoing inventory altogether. At street level it looks empty and has the uninviting look of a quickly vacated office space, complete with generic linoleum floors and fluorescent lights. But on closer inspection, you'll see a video projection from the über-hip boutique in the cellar to indicate where all the action really is. Adventurous souls should head to the back of the building to a stairwell that takes you to a dark cavern of clothing and accessories, some of it displayed on a huge, roughly hewn wooden table. Most of the designers sold here have a theatrically somber, Rainer Werner Fassbinder sensibility, such as Rick Owens, Raf Simons, and Undercover. If the cutting-edge style is all too much, catch your breath in the lounge area, decorated in black, of course.

Rub shopping shoulders with: Local performance artists, video directors, and creative types who work at fringe ad agencies.

Treat yourself: Distressed gold leather cowboy boots, $690; slouchy leather satchels by Fabrics Interseason, $350.

Apartment
8 Memhardstrasse
Tel: 49 30 280 42 251