Nah und Gut Bülow — Supermarket in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin

Nah und Gut Bülow is one branch of the EDEKA chain, sitting on Raumerstraße in Prenzlauer Berg. What sets this one apart is the schedule: the doors stay open until 10 pm six days a week, which is later than plenty of shops in the neighbourhood and makes it the practical stop when you are heading back to Prenzlauer Allee station after a long day.

The selection covers a full supermarket shop rather than a corner-shop range, and the shelves are stocked well enough that you can put together a proper basket instead of settling for whatever is left. Nothing here is a specialty counter or a destination in itself; you come for the ordinary things you need and you find them.

On the deposit bottle return, the conditions are posted on the machine: a few bottles brought back on their own are credited towards a purchase rather than paid out in cash. Read the notice before you load the machine so you know what to expect at the till.

Spend lands somewhere between €10 and €30 for a typical basket, which is the range to plan around for a normal shop rather than a quick single item. Prices here sit on the higher side for what you carry out, so it pays to know what you came for.