Gelsenkirchen has two central shopping areas. Bahnhofsstrasse in Gelsenkirchen city centre and Hochstrasse in the heart of Buer offer something for everyone.

Essen has been dubbed the "shopping city", and not without reason. The city centre is the largest conventional shopping area in the Ruhr and is a great shopping experience.

Bochum city centre offers extensive shopping opportunities around Kortumstrasse and Huestrasse.

Dortmund's mains shopping streets are Westenhellweg and Ostenhellweg. It is also worth having a look around the Brückstrasse and Viktoriastrasse areas.

Münzstrasse, Düsseldorfer Strasse and Friedrich-Wilhelm-Strasse are the major shopping streets in Duisburg.

Probably the best-known shopping centre in the Ruhr is the CentrO in Oberhausen. Europe's largest mall was built on a former derelict industrial site. Further information can be found at www.centro.de.