Perhaps the greatest of all the attractions in Kristiansand is Kvadraturen, a lively, bustling part of the city centre with a network of pedestrian precincts. Different kinds of shops line the pavements and streets. At the central market stallholders display their products of fruit and vegetables.
Within Kvadraturen lies Posebyen, an extensive collection of low, terraced wooden buildings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Posebyen Market is held every Saturday during the summer season.
Kristiansand's main street, Markens, lies in the centre of the town and according to a traditional local song it is here that the fashionable young people of the town parade up and down. Markens starts from the very edge of the sea and leads right through the town centre to the woods. In Øvre Markens (upper Markens) lies one of the largest shopping centres in the city – Slotts Quartalet.
Be sure not to miss Skippergada, a side street with smaller boutiques, charming coffee-shops and cafés serving homemade bread and pastries.
This is a shopping centre 12 kilometers east of Kristiansand. Here you find 100 shops and free parking for 3,000 cars.
Strolling along the streets of the little town of Lillesand is like wandering in a film. In summer the bustling street life in the narrow streets makes the discovery of small shops exciting. Here you will find a real ironmonger and a butcher's shop that has been crowned "Butchers of the Year" on several occasions.
The shops in the village of Birkeland lie in the main street Strøget. In the village of Vennesla the main shops are in the pedestrian precinct.
Tangvall is the centre of Søgne and here there is a varied selection of shops, as well as an attractive pedestrain precinct. On the E39 main road towards Kristiansand lies the Brennåsen Shopping Centre.