Standing grandly on Kongens Nytorv, its French-Renaissance facade looming over the square, Magasin du Nord is more than a department store — it’s a 150-year-old Copenhagen institution with a literary secret tucked in its upper floors and a gourmet food hall locals quietly love. Most visitors breeze past it on the way to Nyhavn; the savvy ones step inside for the shopping, the history, and a brilliant-value lunch. Let me show you why it’s worth the detour.
This is a guide to Magasin du Nord in Copenhagen — its grand history, a floor-by-floor steer, the food hall, the Hans Christian Andersen connection, and how it compares to Illum.
Magasin du Nord at a glance
- Where: Kongens Nytorv 13, at the eastern end of Strøget (metro: Kongens Nytorv)
- What: one of Scandinavia’s oldest and grandest department stores
- Founded: 1868 (Aarhus); Copenhagen flagship from 1870, present building 1894
- Don’t miss: the basement Mad & Vin food hall and the hidden H.C. Andersen room
- Floors: beauty, menswear, womenswear, homeware, kids, cafés — plus the food hall
- Tax-free shopping for non-EU visitors
A grand history
Magasin du Nord began in 1868 in Aarhus and opened its Copenhagen shop in 1870, in rented rooms of the old Hotel du Nord on Kongens Nytorv — which is where the French name comes from. As it grew it swallowed the whole hotel, which was demolished, and the magnificent current building was completed in 1894 in French Renaissance Revival style. Today it’s one of the oldest and largest department stores in Scandinavia, the flagship of a small Danish chain, and a genuine piece of the city’s commercial heritage. Even if you don’t buy a thing, the building itself — soaring, ornate, atmospheric — is worth a wander.
The Hans Christian Andersen secret
Here’s the detail almost no visitor knows. Before the department store existed, the Hotel du Nord on this spot was where a young, penniless Hans Christian Andersen once lodged in a cramped attic room as a struggling young man. Magasin has reconstructed his little garret chamber, and it survives — hidden away on an upper floor (around the homeware level), a free literary easter-egg behind the displays. Look for his portrait and ask staff if you can’t find it; it’s often tucked behind coffee-machine stands and can be easy to miss. For a fan of the fairy-tale author, it’s a lovely, quiet pilgrimage in the middle of a shopping trip.
Floor by floor
The store is laid out across five floors plus the basement:
- Ground floor — beauty and accessories, the glossy entry-level browse.
- First floor — menswear, sportswear and travel gear.
- Second floor — womenswear and fashion.
- Third floor — interior and homeware, books (and the Andersen room nearby).
- Fourth floor — kids and youth brands.
- Fifth floor — cafés and an information point, with views over Kongens Nytorv.
- Basement — the Mad & Vin food hall (see below).
The Mad & Vin food hall
My favourite part of Magasin is in the basement: Mad & Vin, a sprawling gourmet food hall that’s been here since the 1950s. It’s a proper food market — in-house butchers, a fishmonger, a cheese counter, a bakery, wines and thousands of specialty items, with staff who know their stuff. For visitors it’s a brilliant budget hack in an otherwise pricey area: grab smørrebrød, pastries, cheese and fruit, and assemble a picnic to take to the King’s Garden or your hotel. It’s where locals actually shop, and it’s a far better lunch than the tourist cafés outside. More cheap-eat ideas in my Copenhagen on a budget guide.
Magasin vs Illum: which to visit?
Copenhagen’s two grand department stores sit a short walk apart, so here’s the honest comparison. Magasin du Nord (Kongens Nytorv) is the grander, more classic, broader store — bigger range across fashion, homeware, toys and electronics, with the historic building, the food hall and the Andersen room. Illum (on Strøget) is sleeker and more contemporary-luxury, with a strong beauty hall and a hidden rooftop. For breadth, history and that food-hall lunch, choose Magasin; for fashion, beauty and a rooftop drink, choose Illum. They’re close enough to do both.
Practical tips
- Getting there: the Kongens Nytorv metro station is right outside; it’s walkable from Nyhavn and the eastern end of the Strøget pedestrian strip.
- Tax-free: non-EU residents can reclaim VAT on purchases over 300 DKK — see my money guide.
- Use the food hall for an affordable, high-quality lunch or picnic haul.
- Seek out the Andersen room on the homeware floor — a free literary highlight.
- Hours are generally daily into the evening, but check magasin.dk before a special trip.
A self-guided Magasin walk-through
To get the best of Magasin in one visit, here’s a simple route that takes in the shopping, the history and the food. Enter from Kongens Nytorv into the glossy ground-floor beauty hall, then ride up through the fashion floors to the homeware level (third floor), where you should hunt down the hidden Hans Christian Andersen attic room — a free, atmospheric detour most shoppers walk right past. Carry on up to the fifth floor café for a coffee with views over the square. Then finish in the basement at Mad & Vin, picking up a smørrebrød or picnic haul for far less than a restaurant outside. Exit back onto Kongens Nytorv, a two-minute walk from Nyhavn. That loop gives you a department store, a literary landmark and a gourmet lunch in under two hours — a surprisingly rich stop for somewhere most people treat as just a shop.
The food hall as a budget lunch hack
It’s worth dwelling on Mad & Vin, because it’s one of the best-value moves in an expensive part of town. While the cafés and restaurants around Kongens Nytorv and Nyhavn charge tourist prices, Magasin’s basement food hall lets you assemble a high-quality, affordable lunch or picnic: freshly made smørrebrød (the classic Danish open sandwiches), pastries from the bakery, local cheese, charcuterie, fruit and a drink. Take it across to the nearby King’s Garden (Kongens Have) in good weather, or back to your hotel. The quality is genuinely excellent — this is a proper food market, not a supermarket — and it’s where Copenhageners actually shop for the good stuff. For more ways to eat well without overspending, see my full budget guide.
The Hans Christian Andersen connection, in depth
The Andersen link is one of those lovely Copenhagen stories worth knowing the background to. As a poor young man chasing his dreams in the capital, the future author of “The Little Mermaid” and “The Ugly Duckling” lodged in a humble room in the Hotel du Nord that once stood on this site — long before it became a department store. When that hotel was absorbed into Magasin and eventually rebuilt, the store chose to honour the connection by reconstructing his little garret chamber, which survives today as a small, free exhibit on an upper floor. It’s modest and easy to miss (often tucked behind product displays — ask a staff member to point you to it), but for anyone who grew up on Andersen’s fairy tales, standing in a recreation of the cramped room where the struggling writer once lived is a quietly moving moment, and a reminder that Copenhagen is the city of the world’s greatest storyteller.
Practical extras and other locations
A few final notes to round things out. The Copenhagen flagship on Kongens Nytorv is the grand one, but Magasin has several other stores around Denmark (including at Field’s, Lyngby, Odense, Aarhus and Aalborg) if you happen to be elsewhere. For tax-free shopping, non-EU residents should ask for the refund form at the till on purchases over 300 DKK and validate it at the airport — the store uses an established VAT-refund operator, so it’s straightforward. The store is genuinely family-friendly too, with a dedicated kids’ floor and the food hall for treats, and its floors are a reliable source of Copenhagen souvenirs. And because it sits right on the Kongens Nytorv metro and a two-minute walk from Nyhavn, it slots neatly into a city-centre day — pair it with the eastern end of Copenhagen’s main shopping street and the canal-side colour of Nyhavn for an easy, classic Copenhagen afternoon.
Is Magasin du Nord worth it?
For more than just shopping, yes. Treat it as a three-in-one stop — a grand historic department store, a hidden literary landmark, and a gourmet food hall locals love — and it becomes one of the more rewarding stops in the city centre, not just another shop to skip. Whether you’re after fashion, a Danish-design homeware piece, a budget picnic, or a fairy-tale easter-egg, Magasin delivers, all wrapped in a beautiful 1894 building beside Nyhavn. Compare it with its rival in my Illum guide, and find it in the full rundown of where to shop.
The building and its architecture
Magasin du Nord is worth visiting for the building alone, quite apart from the shopping. The grand structure you see today was completed in 1894 in an opulent French Renaissance Revival style, all ornate stonework and stately proportions, dominating the south side of Kongens Nytorv. It replaced the old Hotel du Nord that gave the store its French name, and its scale — a full city block of retail spread over five floors around a soaring interior — was a statement of confidence from a young, ambitious department store. More than 130 years later it remains one of the grandest commercial buildings in Scandinavia, a piece of 19th-century retail theatre that has survived into the age of online shopping. Pause outside to take in the facade before you go in, and once inside, look up: the architecture is part of the experience, a reminder of an era when shopping was meant to feel like an occasion. It’s a fitting anchor to the elegant Kongens Nytorv, one of Copenhagen’s most important squares.
Shopping the store like a local
Locals don’t necessarily come to Magasin for the luxury fashion — they come for specific, practical reasons, and you can shop it the same way. The basement food hall (Mad & Vin) is the big draw: a genuine gourmet market where Copenhageners buy good cheese, fresh fish, smørrebrød, wine and specialty groceries, and where a savvy visitor assembles a high-quality, affordable lunch or picnic instead of paying tourist prices outside. The store is also a reliable one-stop shop — when you need a specific thing (a gift, a homeware item, kids’ clothes, a beauty product, an umbrella when the Danish weather turns), Magasin’s breadth across five floors means you’ll find it without traipsing around. And the seasonal sales, particularly after Christmas, draw locals hunting genuine bargains. Approach it less as a luxury splurge and more as a grand, useful, beautiful general store with a brilliant food hall, and you’ll use it the way Copenhageners do.
Kongens Nytorv and the surrounding area
Magasin’s location makes it an ideal anchor for a wider wander, because some of Copenhagen’s best-known sights are right on its doorstep. The store sits on Kongens Nytorv (“the King’s New Square”), a grand circular plaza ringed by historic buildings including the Royal Danish Theatre and the elegant Hotel d’Angleterre, with a metro station right outside. A two-minute walk away is Nyhavn, the famous, colourful canal-side row of gabled houses and one of the most photographed spots in the city — perfect for a coffee or a beer after shopping. The eastern end of Strøget begins right at the square, so you can shop your way back toward the centre, and the Illum department store is a short stroll along it for a direct comparison. In other words, Magasin isn’t a detour — it sits at one of the great hubs of central Copenhagen, making it an effortless stop on any city-centre day. Combine it with Nyhavn and Strøget for a classic afternoon.
Tips for a great Magasin visit
To get the most out of it, a few final pointers. Go hungry — or at least with room for a snack — so you can take advantage of the Mad & Vin food hall, which is the highlight for many visitors and the smart budget move in a pricey area. Seek out the Hans Christian Andersen room on the homeware floor; it’s free, easy to miss, and a lovely literary surprise (ask a staff member if you can’t find it). Sort your tax-free refund at the till if you’re a non-EU shopper spending over 300 DKK — it’s straightforward and worth it on bigger purchases. Use the upper-floor café for a rest with a view over the square. And check the opening hours on magasin.dk before a special trip, as they vary. With a little planning, Magasin becomes far more than a shop — it’s a three-in-one stop of retail, history and great food, all in a magnificent building beside Nyhavn.
Final thoughts on Magasin du Nord
Magasin du Nord rewards the visitor who treats it as more than a department store. Yes, it’s a grand place to shop across fashion, homeware and more — but its real magic lies in the combination: a magnificent 1894 building, a hidden Hans Christian Andersen room, and a gourmet food hall that locals genuinely use, all at one of central Copenhagen’s great squares, steps from Nyhavn. Whether you come for a Danish-design gift, a budget picnic, a fairy-tale easter-egg or simply to admire the architecture, it’s a more rewarding stop than most tourists realise as they hurry past. Compare it with its sleeker rival in my Illum guide, and slot it into the full full shopping guide alongside the full Strøget guide stores.
Last updated: July 2026. Photo credits: Mikael Buchholtz, Eddie O. / Pexels.
Frequently asked questions
Is Magasin du Nord worth visiting?
Yes — it’s a grand historic department store with broad shopping, a superb basement food hall, and a hidden Hans Christian Andersen room, all on Kongens Nytorv next to Nyhavn.
How old is Magasin du Nord?
It dates to 1868; the Copenhagen flagship opened in 1870 and the present grand building was completed in 1894.
Did Hans Christian Andersen live in Magasin du Nord?
He lodged in the Hotel du Nord that previously stood on the site. Magasin has reconstructed his attic room, which you can find on an upper floor — a free literary easter-egg.
What’s in the Magasin du Nord food hall?
The basement Mad & Vin food hall has butchers, a fishmonger, cheese, bakery, wine and specialty groceries — great for a gourmet picnic.
Magasin du Nord or Illum — which is better?
Magasin is grander and broader with a food hall and history; Illum is sleeker, more contemporary-luxury with a rooftop. They’re a short walk apart, so consider both.
How do I get to Magasin du Nord?
It’s on Kongens Nytorv, right by the Kongens Nytorv metro station and walkable from Nyhavn and Strøget.
Compare it with Illum, browse the Danish design shops, and see the full Copenhagen shopping guide.
