Shopping in Amsterdam is easier when you know where you can find exactly what you want. Whether you're looking for international name brand clothing, vintage dress or locally made designs, there is a street, market, or neighborhood
for that.
Popular shopping streets with name brand clothing and goods are the Kalverstraat and Nieuwendijk. Beware, these streets are FULL of tourists. If you have h&m, vero moda or zara at home, there's no need to visit this street. If you want a more dutch shopping experience, I suggest these streets in Amsterdam...
De negen straatjes or "nine streets" is a section of well, 9 streets, full of cute boutiques, cafes and higher end shops. There are still tourists there but the shops are locally owned and its nice to support local artisans who are selling quality goods.
The Harlemmerstraat is my absolute FAVORITE shopping street! There are gift shops, candy stores, cheese shops, family owned Indian restaraunts, vintage clothing boutiques, fantastic cafes, an Iberican ham shop, organic grocery stores, juice bars, albert heijn grocery store, book shops, a dutch movie theatre, bakeries, pizzerias and tons more. Its been rated the best shopping street in the Netherlands and you'll see why. Keep walking a few minutes more and you'll end up at Westerpark, a beautiful park perfect for picnicking and football. Or grab a coffee or beer at the Westergasfabriek, an old gas factory that's been converted into a hipster strip mall of sorts. There's a nice outdoor market there on Sunday afternoons. Many locals gather there in the summer-time so kids can splash in the reflecting pool while family and friends bbq on the vast greenspace. A few big festivals like Rollende Keukens takes place there and a huge summer concert as well. I saw Radiohead there in 2008, it was awesome. So please, take a walk down this street. I promise it will not disappoint!
Albert Cuypmarkt is the largest outdoor street market in Amsterdam, located in de pijp, a very hip, trendy, artsy, bohemian neighborhood. Its open everyday except Sunday, from 10am-5pm. Its a great place to get cheap produce, fish, cheese, street food like poffertjes, stroofwafels and during the Christmas season, ollie-bollen. You can also find very inexpensive clothing, shoes, housewares, beauty products, souvenirs and tons of other stuff. Albert Cuyp is surrounded by a veritable buffet of fantastic restaurants, cozy cafes, ice cream shops, bars and boutiques of every kind. There is even a store that sells hard to find American food. Its nice to know where its at when you're craving jello, duncan hines brownies and bbq sauce.
The Noordmarkt & Lindengracht Markets are next to each other in the
Jordaan district. They're open simultaneously on Saturdays from 9am-5pm. Noordmarkt sells mainly organic and local produce, meats, fancy cheeses, flowers, clothing and baked goods. Antiques and vintage clothing stands make up the rest of the market. My favorite is just one street away, lindengrachtmarkt. Its bigger and you can find fresh fish, more cheeses, clothing, produce stands, flowers, household goods, prepared Indonesian snacks, fresh-hot-gooey stroopwafels are a must, and my personal favorite...the singing bratwurst guys! Please go visit them and get one of the most delish brats with kraut you'll ever have this side of Germany. They also sell traditional dutch pea soup and hot ham and kraut sandwiches. The two guys running the stand are super friendly and they love to sing. It warms you up after a long afternoon of shopping in the cold rain.
Waterlooplein is open Monday-Saturday 9am-6pm and offers mostly new and vintage clothing, antiques, handmade jewelry and art. If you are looking for a real, unique dutch souvenir, you'll find it here. The atmosphere at Waterlooplein is unlike the other Amsterdam street markets, its very hippie, very boho. Grab a quick snack from the few dutch snackbars or other tasty Asian & Indonesian food stands while shopping. Loempia is one of my favorites. If you are looking for a bike, the prices here are probably the best in the city. But beware, some of these bikes have been drudged from the canals and the rusty parts painted over. If you're visiting for a short time, renting a bike is best. If anything, its a fun place to walk through and get the real Amsterdam vibe.
Dappermarkt is in east Amsterdam and is open Monday-Saturday 10am-4:30pm. Its in a predominantly Moroccan and middle eastern neighborhood so culturally its different from the rest of Amsterdam and that's what makes it cool. My friends say the "yellow tent" has the best kebab in the city. It is very good, but I don't know if its the best because well its the only one in East that I've tried. My kebab guy on the Rosengracht was pretty darn good, until he moved back to Turkey! Still getting over that one...anyway, do go to the yellow tent. It was voted best kebab in Amsterdam. Dappermarkt has everything the other markets offer, except it has less expensive and better quality meat stands and amazing produce. I found peaches as big as my head in that neighborhood. The people in this neighborhood are warm and friendly, don't let fear of unfamiliar culture keep you from this great part of the city!
Ijhallen is located in the up and coming NDSM shipyards of Amsterdam Noord and has become the largest indoor flea market in Europe. Here's the deal...You pay 5 euros to enter an old, giant, ship building warehouse FULL of stands selling clothing, antiques, furniture, art and loads of other stuff. I spent 4 hours there with a friend and we didn't see half of it. Its like the Lourve of flea markets. Ijhallen is open only one weekend a month from 9am-4:30pm. You have to take the free ferry across the Ij (harbor behind central station) to get there. Its a fun ride on the water, about 10 minutes, and keep an eye out for the old Russian submarine. There are a few cozy cafes nearby as well. Here's a website to show the dates for Ijhallen each month.