An essential part of getting to know your new surroundings when moving to a country is finding the best places to get your groceries. When arriving in Denmark, you may be overwhelmed by the wide variety of different grocery store chains. But if you clicked on this post, you’re in luck – we made a list of places to go grocery shopping in Denmark! This one will not only give you an overview of your possibilities: It will also help you decide which shop to pick based on your budget, location, and what products you’re looking for.
Keep reading to find out what your new go-to shops will be!
1. Budget-friendly grocery stores
Denmark has a whole array of discount stores where you can find anything you need for great prices (on a Danish scale, at least!).
- Rema 1000 is said to beª the cheapest of all the supermarket chains. The Norwegian chain with branches in Denmark offers a variety of products for low prices. The stores are usually not huge, but still you’ll find pretty much everything you need.
- Fakta and Netto are the cheapest stores owned by two of the biggest retail groups (Coop and Salling group, respectively). They, too, offer all the essentials for attractive prices.
- The two supermarket chains Aldi and Lidl can also be counted into the discounter list. In fact, Lidl is said to be the second cheapest grocery store chains.
One downside to shopping at these stores is that they can be a bit hard to navigate, but you’ll definitely find your way through them after the first couple of trips! The staff there will also be happy to help: watch this lesson on Swap Language to learn how to ask employees at a shop when grocery shopping in Denmark.
2. Greengrocers and shops with foreign products
In many locations – mostly in cities – chances are you’ll find mostly smaller greengrocers! In these, you’ll find interesting varieties of products. There will, of course, be lots of fresh fruit and vegetables for good prices. In addition to that, you’ll also find lots of products that may be hard to find in other grocery stores, especially when it comes to Mediterranean and/or Middle Eastern delicacies. Depending on where you’re from, this means you can get a taste of home – or lots of new foods to try!
And then, there are “hyper” versions of these shops: Bazar vest right outside Aarhus and Vestegnens Bazar outside Copenhagen, for example, will have you looking over a literal sea of fruits, vegetables, and other produce in awe.
For foods of other origins, such as Eastern Europe, a visit to a EuroDeli store is in order! Asian food shops are also spread across Denmark, offering products from various Asian countries. And it’s also a good idea to keep an eye out for street markets!
3. Well-sorted mid-range supermarkets
If you prefer large, well-sorted supermarkets where you can be sure to find everything you need (such as food, household items, maybe clothes …) under one roof, the places in the following list are for you:
- Føtex stores are usually spread out throughout cities, and chances are you’ll find one near where you live.
- Kvickly’s are a bit rarer, but you’ll find a few per city.
- Bilka is a so-called Hypermarket chain, meaning the stores are enormous – and you’ll find a large choice of anything from food to cosmetics, cleaning products, clothes, stationery, home improvement items, and more. They can usually be found once outside every bigger city.
4. More expensive supermarkets
The most expensive supermarket chains are Irma and Meny. They, too, are well-sorted and tend to offer some more high-end products.
- Irma, in particular, advertises itself as prioritising local and organic products. Irma stores can only be found on Zealand (Sjælland).
- Meny has stores spread throughout all of Denmark.
Even these pricier stores have a whole range of products, including cheaper product lines. To help you find your way around the vast variety of products and prices, let this Swap Language lesson help you get started!
5. Getting groceries budget-friendly – while reducing food waste!
Finally, there are some more original and useful ways to get your daily meals while watching your budget – and contributing to food waste reduction!
- You may know the app TooGoodToGo already as it is popular in many countries across the globe. Good news – it works in Denmark, too! This app helps you find shops, restaurants, and hotels close to you that sell overproduced foods at reduced prices. You can reserve your portion and collect it at a fixed time.
- Denmark also has supermarkets that sell food produced in too large quantities cheaper. Wefood, a project by the Danish charity organization Folkekirkens Nødhjælp, have a handful of venues spread across all of Denmark!
- You can also go to motatos.dk and buy reduced-price foods and other necessities that have been produced in excess.
6. Minimal-waste grocery shopping
The number of zero- or minimal-waste shops in Denmark is limited, but rising! Bigger cities usually have one to several stores that specialize in environmentally friendly and bulk-buyable products. In regular supermarkets, there are lots of package-free loose vegetables and fruits, but these stores are great for package-free pasta, grains, candy, soap, and other necessities.
So if you would like to produce as little waste as possible, the options for minimal-waste grocery shopping in Denmark include (but are not limited to) Tinc in Aarhus, Løs Market in Copenhagen, or Silo Marked in Odense.
7. Online grocery shopping
There are more possibilities to grocery shop from home besides the one named in the last category!
- Some of the “regular” grocery stores let you shop for things online. They will collect the goods that you need and have them ready for you to pick up! This can, for example, be done on Coop’s website or Føtex’s “Køb og hent” page.
- You can also order groceries right to your home: nemlig.com offers you this possibility. For a small delivery fee, you can get regular grocery items delivered to you, as well as “meal boxes” with the ingredients you need for recipes you can find on their website.
Good to know when you’re grocery shopping in Denmark
- Many shops have pretty long opening hours, often from 7am or 8am to 9pm-10pm. Some, like Bilka, can also be open from 6am until 11pm or midnight.
- In Denmark, people rarely pay with cash anymore. Usually, payments happen via credit card or MobilePay, a smartphone app that allows you to transfer money to other people and stores. Very often, you’ll find yourself using self-service check out machines. They can take some time to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, it’s fast and easy.
- If you do end up using the “traditional” check-out, but aren’t sure what to say to the cashier (and what they’re saying to you)? Click here for helpful tips and phrases when you’re at the checkout, and here for more general language tips for Grocery shopping in Denmark.
- Because prices in Denmark are generally high, it’s always good to keep an eye on special offers. On minetilbud.dk, you can find every grocery store chain’s “tilbudsavis” (a magazine that presents special offers). They also have an app!
Conclusion
So now that you have an overview of your shopping possibilities, you’ll soon have your go-to store for different occasions! To help you talk to your friends about which is your favorite and why, get some inspiration from this video over on Swap Language! 🙂
This breakdown does not have the intention to cover every single place there is. But hopefully, we’ve been able to help you structure the big and confusing world of grocery shopping in Denmark!
