IKEA Kungens Kurva

Opening Hours: 10-20 / 10-20 / 10-20

IKEA needs no introduction. It is the place to go if you don't want to spend too much money on your furniture and homeware. They even sell woks, shopping bags, and wet wipes. Here's a bit of background about Ikea by The Local.

Below I only explain how to get there.

There are two IKEA stores in Stockholm: Kungens Kurva and Barkarby.

Even if you don't have a car, the one in Kungens Kurva is still accessible via free shuttle bus on weekdays. (Time Out Stockholm says it's daily, but that's wrong.) Every one hour from 10am to 7pm on Monday to Friday, the free shuttle bus departs from Vasagatan 10 (across the street from Stockholm Central station; only 30 seconds from the Vasagatan exit of T-Centralen). It takes about 20 minutes.

To go back to the city center, the shuttle bus departs in front of Ikea (where you got off if you arrived by the same shuttle bus) every one hour from 10:30am to 7:30pm, and stops at Hornstull (T-bana red line), Fridhemsplan (T-bana green and blue lines), Rådhuset (T-bana blue line), and Vasagatan 10.

Alternatively (and on weekends), go to Skärholmen (T-bana red line Norsborg branch) and take bus 707, 710, or 740 for 5 minutes.

Clas Ohlson

Address: Gallerian, Hamngatan 37
Telephone: 08 545 189 90
Opening Hours: 10-20 / 10-18 / 11-18
Nearest Station: T-Centralen, Kungsträdgården

If you don't know where to go to buy something that makes your life more convenient, visit this store. Housed in Gallerian (go upstairs), Clas Ohlson sells everything from screw drivers to electric room heaters, from electrical socket extensions to clothes drying stands (a rarity in Sweden), from padlocks to scissors, from lint removers to cardboard boxes for removal. The store is so vast you won't find what you are looking for on your own. Go to the information desk first, and ask a shop assistant who of course speaks English.

Recently, they have opened a similarly spacious store at Drottinggatan 53, very close from T-Centralen station's Sergels torg exit.

SL Lost Property Office

If you lost something while you were traveling by metro, tram, and bus, visit Hittegods at Klara Östra Kyrkogata 6 (a few minute walk from T-centralen Sergels Torg exit). Opening hours are 8:00-19:00 on Monday, 8:00-17:00 on Tuesday to Friday, and 8:00 to 14:00 on Saturday (closed on Sunday). 

Lost items are delivered to this office after 3 business days.

Åhlens City

Address: Klarabergsgatan 50
Telephone: 80 767 6000
Opening Hours: 10-20 / 10-19 / 11-18
Nearest Station: T-Centralen

Åhlens is a department store chain in Sweden. Its flagship(?) store at the very central of Stockholm provides an excellent shopping experience. Floor T (on your right immediately after entering from T-Centralen station ticket barriers) stocks a wide range of homewares including those from Design House Stockholm, 10 Gruppen, Iittala, and Muji (the Japanese minimalist design shop, only available in Åhlens stores in Stockholm). Floor G (the ground floor) sells a good selection of travel luggage. And Floor B (the 2nd basement floor) is Hemköp supermarket.

NK

Address: Hamngatan 18-20
Telephone:
Opening Hours: 10-19 / 10-18 / 12-17
Nearest Station: T-centralen, Östermalmstorg, Kungsträdgården

NK is the first-class department store in Stockholm. The basement floor houses major homeware design brands including Alessi, Design House Stockholm, and Iittala, along with stylish stationery chain Ordning & Reda and beautiful glass maker Kosta Boda. The book section on the 3rd floor stocks a good selection of fiction titles in English. Its website has an English version.

NK also compiles a free, pocket-sized Essential Guide to Stockholm each summer. The Guide introduces you to the best restaurants, cafes, and bars in Stockholm. Pick one when you visit NK.

Soup Lounge

Address: Hamngatan 37 (inside Gallerian)
Opening Hours:
Nearest Station: T-centralen, Kungsträdgården
Website (in Swedish): n.a.

If you walk on the ground floor of Gallerian, a shopping mall diagonally opposite to NK, just about halfway stands Soup Lounge, a soup bar, which recently (in November 2008) took over from Souperb with changes for the better. For less than 70 krona, you can choose from saffron seafood soup, green curry chicken soup, etc. with a piece of bread for free. If you go for green curry chicken soup, a bowl of Thai rice comes along, too. It's a great escape from the standard lunch menu (ie. pasta salad and various sandwiches) everywhere in Stockholm.

Hemköp City Stockholm

Address: Klarabergsgatan 50
Telephone: 08 723 6530
Opening Hours: 7-21 / 10-21 / 10-21
Nearest Station: T-Centralen

Located in the basement of Åhlens City, this branch of the Hemköp (pronounced like "hemshop") supermarket chain stocks a very wide range of foods along with a butcher, a cheese counter, and a fishmonger. Access is also very good as it's located within one-minute walk from T-Centralen T-bana station. It's open in the morning and in the evening when Åhlens City is closed.

Systembolaget at Regeringsgatan 44

Address: Regeringsgatan 44
Telephone: 08 796 9810
Opening Hours: click here
Nearest Station: T-Centralen

To buy booze containing more than 3.5 percent of alcohol in Sweden, you need to go to a branch of Systembolaget, the state-owned monopoly. Among many branches in the city, the biggest one* (according to a staff at Systembolaget in Hötorgshallen) is in the shopping complex building at Regeringsgatan 44. If you are looking for a rather rare type of booze (e.g. Japanese sake), visit this branch. The stock is huge. For example, bottled beer from around the world (Jamaica's Red Stripe, Spain's San Miguel, Mexico's Corona, Japan's Asahi Dry, etc.) is in stock with the same price as Swedish bottled beer.

It's best approached through the entrance of NK on Regeringsgatan. Once you enter, go upstairs and turn left. Immediately on your right is the entrance.

You are required to show your ID card at a till, if you look young.

* According to Time Out Stockholm (3rd edition, 2008), the biggest branch is at Klarabergsgatan 62.

Kartcentrum

Address: Vasagatan 16
Telephone: 08 411 16 97
Opening Hours: 9-18 / 10-18 / closed
Nearest T-bana Station: T-Centralen

Kartcentrum is a place to go if you plan a trip abroad. It stocks a wide range of travel guide books and maps (in English!) for many foreign countries.

Ljushuset

Address: Mäster Samuelsgatan 45
Telephone
Opening hours: 10-18 / 10-15 / closed
Nearest station: T-Centralen

Swedes are obsessed with light. Ljushuset stocks a wide range of lamps.

Hemtex & more

Address: Sergelgatan 17
Telephone: 08 21 1944
Opening hours:

Hemtex sells anything textile: bed linens (also duvets and pillows), curtains (including shower curtains), towels, bath robes, table cloths, and so forth.

There are several Hemtex branches throughout the city, but this one on Sergelgatan is the largest, and in my opinion the display is also the best among all the branches (so you are tempted to buy many things here).

And, as the shop name suggests, there are more. This store even sells stationery and some glassware including Iittala.