I heard of this shopping complex on ‘the other side of town’ called DEZ, while I was in Innsbruck. Seeing as I haven’t seen much on the other side of town, I decided to check it out.
I’m also a sucker for Ikea (which is in DEZ), so while I was in Innsbruck, I took the opportunity to go visit the outlet there. You can get there by bus and it is not too far away. It is also a nice way of seeing other parts of Innsbruck as it is on the opposite side of the train tracks (if you remember the map of Innsbruck, we had the western and eastern parts of the city divided by the central train station – if you’re confused, just zoom out on the map above).
I’ll show you a bit of Ikea as well as DEZ. The whole complex pretty much has all that you would need from groceries to furniture, clothes and entertainment.
What I like about Ikea is the showrooms, which exhibit concepts from different interior designers or ordinary people. During my visit, there were a few exhibits of efficient space, where the idea was to populate a small area with all the essentials required for living: eat, sleep, bathe, leisure and storage. There were a few amazing ideas shown here on as little as 10 square metres or less.
One of my favourites, the colours and lighting as well as the storage at the back (which you cannot see).
I compared some of these exhibits with those in Melbourne and did not find anything as compact as what Innsbruck showed. I guess that displays vary from city to city depending on the kinds of living conditions you have. A densely populated city like Innsbruck would require more compact ideas than Melbourne, which is more sprawled.
What is intriguing about Ikea is that the store layout is always the same. You have the same order of rooms on the display floor, the same order of equipment on the warehouse floor and the same products. Prices aren’t too different either upon comparing some furniture that I own. Still eyeing the Markus office chair, but it is too expensive for me to afford at the moment. For those who have an Ikea Family card, it is valid worldwide in participating Ikea stores. This includes Innsbruck and I made full use of the privileges during my visit (they had trouble scanning it through the system though and had to enter the number manually, wonder if that was a glitch or something else!).
After my Ikea excursion, I went into the rest of the shopping mall. There’s my favourite bakery, where I buy my breakfast from everyday while in Innsbruck. They have branches everywhere!
DEZ is two floors, the upper floor near the centre court has a bunch of restaurants and cafes where you can rest. There’s currently a back-to-school exhibit (this was back in August/September last year, I went there twice).
The mall itself isn’t as big as you’d think. The complex, however, is quite spacious with various other buildings housing major shopping chains like C&A or electronics. There is also an underpass beneath the highway, which gets you to another few buildings.
Plenty of parking around the area, so if you’re thinking of bringing your car, you’re bound to find something.
The whole area is quite pedestrian-friendly. There’s C&A, the department store, where I bought a few pairs of jeans from – a bargain!
The mountains in the background always reminded that you’re still in Innsbruck!
After going through the underpass beneath the highway, I was greeted with an electronics shop in the background and a department store in the foreground. I was more interested in the former as I was checking out photography equipment at the time.
Settled for lunch at the Nordsee restaurant. It is a chain of restaurants across several countries in Europe (Germany included) and is known for their fish. Had a grilled fillet with sides. Definitely a healthier option than McDonalds!
This was followed by a coffee for a refill on caffeine. Coffeeshop company is another chain. You’ll remember that I usually frequent their branch in Kaufhaus Tyrol in the heart of Innsbruck.
Took the bus back later that afternoon. It was a Saturday well spent.
Oh, and I had a photo shoot for Ikea as well! 
(my first cover photo!) – managed to fool quite a few people with it. It was actually an Ikea Family member’s special. They had set up a scene and were photographing groups that swung by that area in the shop. You received a free brochure. Turns out that they were doing the same thing in Australia! That’s standardization for you!
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#1 by Cremilda on March 7, 2012 - 2:33 am
hey there, i liked you blog, it is kinda good. keep up the work.