Penny — Supermarket in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin

This is a branch of the Penny chain on Prenzlauer Allee in Prenzlauer Berg, a short walk from Prenzlauer Allee station. It is a busy neighbourhood supermarket, and the renovation left the aisles rearranged in a way that sends you through much of the store to reach the tills.

The beef and the fish are the two buys worth planning around. Both are named as reasons to shop here, and the prices are what makes them worth the trip rather than the counters themselves. Fill a basket with those and the everyday basics and you land in the €10 to €30 range.

Since the renovation there are express checkouts and self checkouts, which helps when you only have a few items and would otherwise wait behind a full trolley. The checkout area itself is cramped and the conveyor belt is short, so a weekend's worth of groceries barely fits on it.

Queues are the recurring friction here. The checkout area gets tight when the store is full. Items also go out of stock, so a specific product you came for may not be on the shelf.

Staff keep the place running under real pressure, and the service stays friendly through it. Come for the beef and fish at good prices and treat the rest as an ordinary neighbourhood shop rather than a place to browse at length.