Shopping possibilities in Innsbruck

On this page you will get a lot of useful information on where to buy the things you might need in Austria.

All the shops & chains named here are just for your information, it's not meant to be advertising. We just know how hard it is to come to a new country and you don't even know where to buy soap, etc. ;-)

The Austrian legislation regarding opening hours is pretty strict, most of the shops close at 18h30 during the week and at 18h00 on Saturdays (almost everything is closed on Sundays). So please check online if the shop you want to go to is still open.

The seasonal sales (“Schlussverkauf”) take place twice a year. Especially in winter this might be really interesting for you because most clothing or sports shops already start their sale on the first day after the Christmas holidays (December 27th) and you get nice clothes or a really good equipment for a cheap price. 

Find more information on shopping all over Austria (the best edible souvenirs, the longest shopping streets and the most popular markets) on the website of the Austrian national tourist agency.

Books

If you need text books for your courses at the university or the MCI, you will for sure be told where to buy them. Most of them are available at the Studia, a book store specialised on university literature. You can also do photocopies or print documents for a reasonable price.

Some university books (especially for language courses) are also available in regular book stores, but those rather focus on a different kind of literature.

The three biggest book stores in Innsbruck are Morawa, Thalia and Tyrolia. Especially Tyrolia focuses on the Tyrolean aspect of books and thus you can find there a lot of travel guides, non-fiction books and other literature on Tyrol and by Tyroleans.

Facebook groups

Over the last couple of months a lot of facebook groups have been founded which help to sell & buy stuff to / from other people living in Innsbruck or nearby. Please check out the list on our useful-links-page.

Farmers’ markets

There are several farmers’ markets in Innsbruck where you can buy delicious homegrown vegetables and homemade food (e.g. cheese, bread, jams, etc.).

We will name some of them underneath, but please understand that the opening hours sometimes change. Furthermore, some of the farmers’ markets don’t take place when it’s especially cold or rainy.

You can find a long list of farmers’ markets in Innsbruck and its surroundings here.

  • Wednesdays (17h30 – 19h00): near the police station in Innstraße in Neu-Rum (near Merkur and KIKA – take bus O and get off at “Neu-Rum Kirche”). Closed during winter time.
  • Fridays (9h00 – 14h00): on Sparkassenplatz
  • Fridays (11h00 – 18h00): on the westhand side of the shopping centre DEZ
  • Saturdays (7h30 – 12h00): on Wiltener Platzl
  • Saturdays (7h30 – 11h30): Victor-Franz-Hess-Straße

Flea markets

There are several flea markets in and around Innsbruck. From the West to the East they are:

  • CYTA (on the parking ground of the shopping centre): the biggest flea market in the Tyrol, every Sunday from 6h00 to 15h30. Take the bus O until Technik and then the bus T until “EKZ Cyta”.
  • Hafen (on the parking ground of the event centre Hafen): every Saturday from 7h00 – 14h00. Take the bus M or C and get off at “Innsbruck Hafen”.
  • Metro (on the parking ground of the grocery market Metro, mostly roofed): Take the bus 4 and get off at „Rumer Hof“.

Furniture

Innsbruck has a lot of furniture shops. Most of them are stores of huge chains, there are hardly any small furniture shops in Innsbruck. You find them in two parts of the city:

  • Avanti, Dänisches Bettenlager, IKEA & Leiner: all more or less near the shopping centre DEZ
  • Kika, Mömax, Möbelix & XXXLutz: in Neu Rum - take the bus O and get off at “Neu-Rum Kirche”.

You can also check the Facebookgroup Innsbruck verschenkt where people give away everything they don't need anymore for free (not only clothes but also books, clothes, kitchen utensils etc.)

 

Pharmacies / drugstores

Pharmacies in Austria only sell medicine and products like band-aid or specialised, mostly expensive body lotions and creams. If you’re looking for other drugstore products, you can either go to supermarkets or specialised drugstore chains like BIPA or DM (but you won’t get any headache killer or other medicine there).  

If you’re looking for more exquisite products like expensive make-up or perfume, you could go to specialised chains like Marionnaud or Douglas.

Shopping Centres

There are several shopping centres in Innsbruck and its surroundings. All of them are easily accessible by public transport. From the West to the East of Innsbruck they are:

Souvenirs

There are plenty of souvenir shops in the Old Town, i.e. the streets around the Golden roof.

Both the tourist office of the city of Innsbruck as well as the official marketing agency of Tyrol have their own shops where they sell especially branded clothes and accessories (everything is also available online). Especially the Tyrolean “star cap” is really popular among locals, in winter time you’ll see dozens of them every day.

The Innsbruck shop can be found at Burggraben 3 (two minutes from the Golden Roof), the Tyrol shop  is in Maria Theresienstraße 55 (2 minutes from the Triumphpforte).

If you want to buy a traditional Austrian dress (Dirndl) or typical leather trousers (Lederhose), please go to specialised stores. There are plenty of them all over the city, ranging from really cheap to pretty exclusive.

Supermarkets

Most grocery shops are part of huge chains, only in the city centre you can find small individual shops (mostly for fruits & vegetables).

The names of the biggest supermarket chains in the Tyrol are: Billa, Hofer, Lidl, Merkur, MPreis and Spar.

Many supermarket chains issue their own fidelity card with which you get a certain discount or other special offers.

The Austrian legislation is pretty strict, therefore only a few supermarkets are allowed to open on Sundays. In Innsbruck these are

Apart from that certain bakeries have the right to open on Sunday morning.

Technical devices

Battteries and other small things like USB-sticks can often also be bought in supermarkets, but if you need a bigger choice, you could go to the stores of one of the following chains: Hartlauer, Media Markt, Saturn. 

Besides the huge chains, there are also a couple of small shops in the centre of Innsbruck.