In an era where the tendency in most provincial towns in Denmark is that people do their shopping at large complexes built on a field outside town, Svendborg has chosen a different strategy, focusing on maintaining a vibrant town centre in order to give people an old-fashioned shopping experience with individual shops in a charming and varied townscape instead of chain stores in an anonymous mall.
Even though Svendborg is yet to have a university, the town has a Latin quarter. The neighbourhood is named the ‘Latin Quarter’ for its old-town charm, with small cafés, pubs, and restaurants, as well as the unique, self-owned artisanal shops.
These shops do not carry mass market products and therefore cannot afford to rent spaces on the town’s main shopping streets. The shops have instead found a home near the southern part of the harbour, in the oldest part of Svendborg.
