What: Breuninger is staging eight fashion shows on Freiburg's Münsterplatz and running in-store activities, including an IKEA bag customisation workshop, during the city's Fashion & Food Festival on 25–26 September 2026.

Why it is important:  It shows how a department store can act as an anchor of city-centre life, building on a festival format that has already shown gains in footfall and dwell time.

Breuninger is taking part in Freiburg's Fashion & Food Festival on 25 and 26 September 2026 with a programme spanning the Münsterplatz and its department store. At its centre are eight Breuninger fashion shows on the square, four on each day, presenting autumn/winter looks and trends from the store.

Inside, DIGEL offers an embroidery service to personalise selected items, a secco bar invites visitors to take a break, and several brands offer gifts with purchase. A cocktail bar with a DJ runs in the third-floor menswear department on both festival days, and popcorn is handed out in kidswear on Saturday. Outside, local Freiburger beer is served on the ramp to the Münsterplatz from 14:00 to 22:00 on both days.

On Saturday, from 14:00 to 20:00, the womenswear floor hosts "IKEA x Breuninger – FRAKTAstisch kreativ!", where visitors can customise IKEA's blue FRAKTA bag and take it home, with no registration required. The store is also extending its opening hours to 21:00 on Friday and 22:00 on Saturday.

David Lehr, managing director of Breuninger Freiburg, who grew up in the city, said the festival reflects an attractive city centre, strong local players and a lively sense of community.

IADS Notes: Breuninger's return to Freiburg's Fashion & Food Festival builds on an edition that already proved the model, when a city-and-retailer partnership with more than 40 fashion shows, in-store entertainment and extended opening hours drew large crowds into the city centre despite poor weather (Freiburger Wochenbericht, September 2025). The pairing of fashion and gastronomy has since become a recurring Breuninger format, extended to its Munich flagship with Michelin-starred chefs, live cooking stations and runway presentations for more than 300 guests (Press Release, April 2026). Positioning the department store as a civic anchor is also visible at Manor, which has partnered with the City of Lausanne to turn its façade into a stage for artist-led installations (24heures, January 2026). More broadly, department stores such as Selfridges, John Lewis and Harrods are adding hospitality, workshops and craft classes to compete for consumers' leisure time rather than only their purchases (The Retail Bulletin, July 2026). The hands-on IKEA bag workshop and DIGEL embroidery station in Freiburg reflect the shift from personalisation to participation, where co-creation and collaborative in-store activities give customers a sense of ownership in the brand experience (MBS, May 2026).

Breuninger brings eight fashion shows and an IKEA co-creation workshop to Freiburg's Fashion & Food Festival