Cologne shopping street ranked Germany's most popular

Cologne’s Schildergasse is the most popular shopping street in the country, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

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The street, which boasts both spacious department stores and quirky boutiques, beat out 170 of the country’s most heavily trafficked retail shopping areas in the annual survey conducted by Düsseldorf-based consulting agency Jones Lang LaSalle.

Ratings were based on the number of pedestrians who passed by in an hour, and with an average of 13,280, the landmark street that dates back to Roman times beat out last year’s winner, Munich’s Kaufingerstaße.

The yearly total of some 720,000 people on the street rivals even Berlin’s famous “fan mile,” first set up in the city for the 2006 World Cup to accommodate 900,000 sports fans, the company said.

“The pedestrian frequency test is a snapshot with high informational value for the location’s quality,” said Jones Lang LeSalle retail expert Rüdiger Thräne. “It’s an indication for profit chances and expansion plans by retailers.”

Second place went to Hamburg’s Mönckebergstraße, which saw an average of 12,120 pedestrians per hour, and third place went to last year’s winner, the Kaufingerstaße in Munich with 11,905.

But being the best comes at a price, Thräne said.

“It’s not a coincidence that the most-frequented A1 locations have the highest rents,” he said.