Shopping in Söndervig: Shops, Supermarkets and Real Finds

Söndervig is one of very few holiday towns on the Danish west coast where you can do a full week's grocery shop, buy a new rain jacket and pick up a hand polished piece of amber jewellery inside the same hour. The town has changed a lot over the past years. What used to be seasonal stalls selling sun hats has turned into year round shops with proper stock. Our Esmark office sits right in the middle of it at Lodbergsvej 18, so we know every shop here in person. In this guide you get everything you need for shopping in Söndervig, from the supermarkets to the nicest shops and on to the practical things no guidebook bothers to explain.

Supermarkets in Söndervig: where you get your groceries

First things first, because in a holiday home this is usually the most urgent question.

MENY sits directly at the junction in the centre of town and, at around 2,000 square metres, it is the biggest supermarket for miles. The shop is family run and you notice it: an in house bakery with fresh bread from early morning, a butcher's counter where someone actually advises you, a fish department, a delicatessen with hot dishes to take away and a serious wine section. In summer the strawberries and new potatoes come from farms nearby. Handy for families: there is a playground in front of the entrance and an ice cream bar with softice inside.

Netto sits slightly outside the centre and is the discount option. Modern building, large fruit and vegetable section, good range of organic products and plant based alternatives. Netto belongs to the Danish Salling Group. If you are staying in a holiday home with a big group and need basic supplies for the week, you will come out cheaper here than at MENY.

Our tip from the office: do your first shop deliberately at MENY and take your time at the delicatessen counter. That is where you find Danish classics like ready made frikadeller, potato salad with remoulade and pickled herring, which give you a complete Danish dinner on the table on your first evening without cooking anything. Do the rest of the week at Netto.

The shops you will find in the centre of Söndervig

The centre is compact and you can walk all of it. You park once and everything is a few minutes away. The range of shops in Söndervig spreads across these areas:

• Fashion for women, men and children

• Shoes and sportswear

• Surf, outdoor and beach equipment

• Brugskunst, meaning Danish applied art and home accessories

• Art, jewellery and amber

• Toys

• Souvenirs and gifts to take home

• Slik, meaning sweets and liquorice

• Groceries and bakery

• Genbrug, meaning second hand

Craft workshops and farm shops around Söndervig

Sea, fjord, dunes and marram grass have always made Söndervig a place where craftspeople work. You will find jewellery makers, amber polishers and painters here, some with the workshop inside the shop so you can watch them work. Amber, in Danish rav, is the classic thing to take home from this coast, and if you are lucky you will find a piece yourself along the tideline after a westerly storm.

A short drive out of town, between the North Sea and Ringköbing Fjord, lies Vestkystens Gårdbutik. A genuine farm shop where almost everything is made on site: dry aged beef, a large selection of cheese from Troldhede Mejeri and Thise Mejeri, plus changing regional products. Anyone who has once tasted the difference between Danish supermarket cheese and Danish dairy cheese comes back here every single year.

On the road towards Ringköbing, in the small village of Kloster, you will find Kloster Design with brugskunst and home accessories. And Havebasen is a great deal more than a garden centre: unusual perennials, selected furniture and interiors, delicacies and craft work under one roof.

The Tuesday bagagerumsmarked

Here is a date almost no guidebook mentions, yet it sits in the calendar of plenty of returning guests. During the summer months the square next to Beach Bowl turns into a bagagerumsmarked on Tuesdays, a car boot sale. Private people selling out of their own households, no professional traders. Applied art, small furniture, toys, clothes in good condition, occasionally Danish craft work.

The difference to a car boot sale at home is the mindset. It is less about profit and more about good things staying in use. Come early, that is when the choice is best, and bring some cash, because not every stall takes cards. Exact times shift with the season, so ask us quickly at the office.

Opening hours in Söndervig: not what you are used to

This is the point where international guests are surprised most often, and it happens in both directions.

Sundays are open. In Danish holiday towns shops largely set their own opening hours. In Söndervig that means seven days a week during the summer half of the year, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays included.

Until 21:00 in high season. During the three core weeks of summer many shops in the centre stay open until nine in the evening. So you can still browse in a relaxed way after a long day on the beach.

Mornings are staggered. The bakery and the supermarkets open early, the rest of the shops mostly from 09:30 or later. If you want to collect wienerbrød at eight in the morning, that works.

Look twice in the low season. From October to March not every shop opens daily. The supermarkets run through, many boutiques cut their hours back. A glance at the notice on the door or a quick phone call saves you a wasted drive.

Practical things to know about shopping in Denmark

A few things work differently here. Knowing them makes the whole holiday run more smoothly.

• Pant. Almost every bottle and can carries a deposit, in Danish pant, roughly 1 to 3 kroner depending on the container. You return them at the machines inside MENY and Netto, get a receipt and offset it at the till. Collect your cans in the holiday home, over a week it adds up fast.

• Paying. Cards work everywhere, Dankort, Visa and Mastercard are standard. Plenty of small shops no longer take cash at all. Note that MobilePay, the app every Dane pays with, normally needs a Danish bank account, so do not count on it. Euros are occasionally accepted, but at a rate that costs you money.

• Tilbudsavis. Supermarkets often have their weekly offer flyers, called tilbudsaviser, displayed in a rack near the entrance. They’re worth a quick look for current deals and discounts.

• Tax free. Danish VAT, in Danish moms, sits at 25 percent and is always included in the shelf price. If you live outside the EU, larger purchases can qualify for a VAT refund at shops displaying a tax free sign. Ask in store before you pay, the paperwork has to be issued at the till.

• Parking. There are enough parking spaces in the centre of Söndervig, though it gets tight between 11:00 and 15:00 in high season. Arrive early or browse in the evening and you park right outside the door.

• Things genuinely worth taking home. Danish liquorice in every degree of hardness, Vesterhavsost from the region, klithonning from the dunes, smoked fish from Hvide Sande and amber jewellery. Those are the things that actually remind you of the holiday once you are back.

Shopping around Söndervig

If the range in town is not enough, two very different alternatives sit within a short drive.

Hvide Sande is around 25 minutes down the coast. The harbour town scores with fish shops and røgerier, smokehouses right by the water selling smoked salmon, mackerel and fiskefrikadeller, plus further shops in the centre. The drive there across the Holmsland Klit spit, North Sea on your left and fjord on your right, is worth the trip on its own.

Ringköbing lies about 15 kilometres east on the fjord and is an old købstad, a historic market town with charter rights. Cobbled streets, a real market square, owner run shops and a pedestrian zone with clearly more choice than any holiday town can offer. If you want to fill a rainy day properly, Ringköbing is the best call in the region.

Your holiday home in the middle of it all

Shopping in Söndervig is at its most pleasant when you do not have to plan it. At Esmark you will find holiday homes right in the dunes, in the quiet hinterland or a few minutes' walk from the centre, so you do not even need the car for fresh bread in the morning. Many of our houses are bookable with a dog, with a pool, with a sauna or with a sea view. Our team has been sitting on Lodbergsvej in Söndervig for decades and is reachable daily from 09:00 to 20:00 if a question comes up while you are out.

Find and book your holiday home in Söndervig