Millions of people come every year to visit one of the most beautiful European cities: its historic walls and museums are one of the main attractions, its landscape during Spring are one of the most amazing experiences one can live and its city centre is full of stores, sales, retailers and designers for all the styles, budgets and tastes.
The best shopping streets in Amsterdam are:
- Kalverstraat, the most famous shopping street in the Netherlands.
- 9 Straatjes (9 Little Streets)
- Utrechtsestraat
- Beethovenstraat
- Leidsestraat
- Harleemmerstraat
- PC Hoofstraat
- Nieuwe Spiegelstraat
- Arena Boulevard
- Cornelis Schuytstraat
Each street is oriented to a different type of audience, a different type of experience and product. If you are interested in getting high end and design items, the best ones are Cornelis Schuystraat and Nieuwe Spiegelstraat. If you want more than that, and you are looking for proper Design and tailoring, PC Hoofstraat is the most famous one with all the worldwide known catwalk brands. To find your perfect street and get to know your way around Amsterdam and where to find everything, keep reading!
10 Best Shopping Streets
In other cities, it would be hard to talk about shopping “streets” but because of the peculiar distribution of streets in Amsterdam, these never-ending pedestrian streets are all over the city. Each street is more or less located in an area that fits perfectly well with the type of product they are selling: the more expensive the houses and the neighbourhoods around that area, the higher end the products will be, the more touristic and centric the area is, the more options of different shops will be available.
I would like to highlight at least 10 famous and worth-visiting streets in Amsterdam, each of them with different types of shops but all of them in the centre of the city, easy to reach by bike, public transportation or even walking. No matter in what part of Amsterdam you are staying or where you will be spending most of your time because this city has been designed for us not to miss on the shopping. Every part of the city has its own shopping street or area, here are my recommendations!
Kalvestraat
If you ask any Dutch person from any part of the Netherlands where Kalvestraat is, they will tell you on a blink. It is the most famous shopping street in the Netherlands because it is not only one of the most popular ones among tourists and locals but also one of the longest shopping streets in Europe with almost 1km of shops.
Kalverstraat is located between Dam Square and Muntplein/Rembrandt Square, going in a circle across the whole centre of Amsterdam. It is open every day of the weeks and most holidays and it offers a little bit of everything for everybody.
What will you be able to find?
- ZARA: of course it had to be there, and not only is there but you will be able to find two of the biggest Zara stores I have ever seen, with sales during the winter and summer months and constant promotions. Besides, it is the first store I have discovered with self-pickup machines where you can instantly have your parcel delivered to you without waiting and self-payment machines where you can check out your items on your own with both cash and card and with all the requirements. An awesome experience, besides the common awesome Zara experience. (Opens from 10 am until 9 pm most days of the week, a little later on Sunday and Monday, and closing a little earlier some days.)
- PANDORA: where you will be able to find their exclusive Dutch pieces for your bracelets, tulips, windmills, Delft pottery and other impressive pieces besides the normal collection.
- Pepe Jeans: for men and women
- Kielh’s: for a personalised skin test and more.
- DOUGLAS and ICI PARIS: for exclusive perfumes, brand makeup and more.
- WE Fashion Store: also for men and women
- Foot Locker and Perry Sport: Sporty items, mostly shoes.
- Pull and Bear and Stradivarius: younger sisters of Zara.
- Hunkermoller and Triumph Lingerie: for underwear
- Topshop! and also Topmen
- NA-KD Amsterdam: for women’s wear
- Inglot Cosmetics, MAC and Kiko: for makeup
- Geox, VANS, NIKE, Skechers and SNIPES
- Desigual
- T-Mobil Shop and KPN Mobile
- Urban Outfitters and Monki: cool pieces of clothes and cool random items.
- Rituals and Lush for pampering products
- Flying Tiger!
- HEMA and Xenos, of course, the Dutch goodies for everything you don’t need and more.
- Cheese shops and much much more
I would like to add that each store has its own opening time, but one has to calculate that almost nothing opens before 10 am, they are open every day of the week but sometimes close during specific holidays, they tend to close at 7 pm but sometimes they open until 9 pm. Google is a good source to check exactly when each store is closing.
9 Straatjes (9 Little Streets)
Negen Straatjes is one of my favourite areas of Amsterdam, mostly during the wintertime when these 9 little streets by the canal get illuminated by fairy lights every evening. These stores are more oriented to people with a higher budget and with a taste for original and indie pieces of anything.
These streets are located in the Jordaan neighbourhood, right across Dam Square to the West. They are not open until late since they are mostly Dutch, expect them to be close between 5 and 6 pm and not open before 9 am. However, most of them will be open on weekends.
What can I find there?
- Great coffee! One of my favourite ones is Screaming Beans.
- Dutch Design and International Design for unisex and openminded costumers.
- Art: illustrations, pottery, sculptures and absolutely anything you can imagine.
- Original souvenirs: we are talking about mand printed t-shirts, passport cases with Amsterdam illustrations, etc.
- Vintage stores like Episode, one of my favourite places to go to.
Utrechtsestraat
Utrechtsestraat is a street located in the Eastern part of the centre of Amsterdam, parallel to the hermitage and the Amstel river. It is not per se a shopping street but a high recommendation for those of you who want to find great coffee and a good place to have brunch. Besides, one can find:
- Cheese, sweets and delicatessen
- Men’s wear
- Women’s wear
- Bikes
- Wines
- Glasses
- More
Beethovenstraat
This street is in the southern part of Amsterdam, close to Beatrixpark and a must when one wants to get out of the touristic areas and start seeing what Dutch is really like, where they actually shop and what a regular neighbourhood is actually like.
What can you find there?
Well, a little bit of everything like any shopping street in a family neighbourhood. The stores are not famous and popular stores but more local or Dutch shops. Among them:
- Fashion: for all ages, including lingerie, sportswear and all the musts.
- Wine and Liquors: because in the Netherlands most supermarkets have a very narrowed offer of alcoholic drinks and you have to go to specific stores.
- Jewellery: mostly local designers
- Interior design: smaller pieces as well as furniture and random house items in stores like Blokker.
- Technology stores
- Office supplies
- Beauty and care
Leidsestraat
Leidsestraat is a must when you are visiting Amsterdam. Even if you don’t want to go there, you will end up there if you are coming from the centre to the southern part of the city, if you are visiting any museum in Museumplein or want to take a boat tour or something like that.
Leidsestraat is the street connected to Leidseplein. It has a lot of famous international stores, a lot of popular fast-food chains and some high-end brands, like a continuation of Kalvestraat. Some of the stores you will be able to find there are:
- Abercrombie and Fitch
- ASPACT Amsterdam
- Adidas and New Balance
- Another Rituals store
- Onitsuka Tiger
- Cheese Company
- BOSS Store
- ARKET Store and Cafe
- Brandy Melville
- Camper
- And many others on the parallel streets you will also find around the area.
All these shops have more or less the same opening times as the Kalverstraat ones, a very Dutch timing.
Haarlemmerstraat
This is another one of the less touristic and more Dutch-style shops. There are over 200 small shops with a little bit of everything, all Dutch and not many international and big retailers.
Among the type of shops that we can find there are: shoes, indie designers and second-hand stores, especially clothing ones, more gourmet food products, interior design items and other interesting products, all of them, Dutch designs. It is also a nice place if you are planning on shopping and grabbing some lunch or coffee on the go. Definitely a nice part of the city to check out.
PC Hoofstraat
If I had to count every time that tourists have asked me at the reception in the hotel what is the name of that impressive street close to Vondelpark where all the expensive and amazing design stores are located… well, this is PC Hoofstraat, everybody.
PC Hoofstraat is one of my favorite streets to pass by because you feel like out of a sudden you are in a mini Carnaby street Amsterdam version. However, as cute as it is to look from the outside, I have never dared to enter any of those stores. Catwalk pieces, designer stores, and Tesla, among others.
It is located between Leidseplein and Museumplein, and you can access it if you exit Vondelpark. In this ideal location you can find the following stores:
What stores will I find there?
Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Guess, Longchamp, Caroline Biss, Bally, Oger, Donka, Anne Fontaine, Dolce and Gabbana, Philipp Plein, Cosmic Cowboys, True Trussardi, Tommy Hilfiger Denim Store, Calvin Klein, Aspact, DOUGLAS, Laurel, Max Mara, Oger, Fendi, Hublot, Schaap en Citroen Patek Philippe Espace, Christian Louboutin, Lacoste, Perla, The Kooples, and many many more!
All of these stores tend to open from 10 am until 6 pm and some of them are closed on Sundays. You can check all the available information, stores and opening time on their website, in English, PCHoofstraat.
Nieuwe Spiegelstraat
I couldn’t help but mentioning Nieuwe Spiegelstraat when I thought about shopping streets in Amsterdam. This is without a doubt one of my favourite parts of the city (a bad one if one is planning on going there by bike because you have to go up and down on the bridges while trying not to kill a tourists who just stopped in the middle of the bridge to take a photo and those walking on the bike line while you have bikes and cars coming at high speed everywhere).
Anyway, Nieuwe Spiegelstraat is more like an art and antique street than a fashion street, but it is one of the most special shopping streets in the city. It is located at the end of the Rijksmuseum, going to the centre, and it reaches Keizersgracht.
What type of stores will you be able to find?
This store I love because of all the art gallery and exhibitions they always have going on. Not so long ago I wrote an article about my favourite free museums in Amsterdam and I couldn’t skip this one, all the amazing modern and contemporary galleries, antiques from all over the world and so on.
There are also some vintage stores (Episode is one of my favourites and also one of my recommendations when it comes to buying clothes on a budget in Amsterdam but when you also want to keep it cool and original).
Other stores are We are Labels Women, L’Etoile de Saint Honore, Il Putto for Accessories and Fashion, Binenbaum for Antiques and Jewelry and more.
Tip: one of my favourite Dutch concept stores for coffee, sweets and a cheap but good lunch is Stach, which is also located there. If you are hungry while walking around the area, go check it out!
Arena Boulevard
Ok, I agree, this is not a street but a Boulevard but I had to mention it. If you happen to be planning a visit to Bijlmer Arena, because you have a concert, you are visiting the Ajax or actually going to see a match, I do recommend taking a look at it. However, if you are going there just to do shopping, any of the other streets that I have mentioned before would do and I promise you won’t miss out.
Everything has a Dutch opening time, so more shops will be able also during weekends, don’t expect anything to be open after 6 or 7 pm and be ready to find some curious stuff.
If you want to go take a look and you are feeling spendy, some of the stores that they have around there are:
- Esprit Outlet, a bit shop with many pieces of clothes, all with discount, both for men and women.
- Fast food restaurants
- Decathlon
- Coffee places
- Bike shops
Besides the boulevard, you can also go to the Villa Arena where there are over 80 different stores and it is more like a normal shopping centre with more average yet cool stores.
Cornelis Schuytstraat
In one of the poshest neighborhoods in Amsterdam, you will be able to find Cornelis Schuystraat. It is located in Oud Zuid, in the south part of Museumplein, close to Vondelpark. Amsterdamers who consider themselves to be from the elite live around here and this street is where they would like to be seen buying, grabbing coffee, doing brunch or groceries.
It may not be the best street to go do shopping unless you are in the hunt for a special piece, a gift for some important occasion or your budget is actually really high, but it is definitely beautiful enough to be worth visiting.
What shops can I find in Cornelis Schuystraat?
- REPEAT for cashmere pieces for everybody and for life.
- Superdry for cooler pieces
- Organic Food For You, for either take away or on the spot snacks
- French Connection
- LaDress Brand Boutique Amsterdam
- Braez, also for boutique items
- Manila Grace
- Boutique Bellerose
- Ellebelle Boutique
- Gall and Gall for liquor, beer and other alcoholic goods.
- 100Days Store Amsterdam
- Suitsuply for suits and tailoring
- Bril Amsterdam for cool glasses
- More
If you are in the neighbourhood and didn’t have enough after visiting PC Hoofstraat, you can come to take a look here, it is one of the calmest neighbourhoods in town. Besides, their opening time is very similar to anything and very Dutch, like the whole thing: don’t expect these shops to open before 10 am and they won’t be open after 6 pm, however, they will be open during weekends and most holidays.
Tips for Shopping
If you are planning your shopping in Amsterdam and since I like doing shopping more than I should, check our blog for more information about where to buy things on a budget, where to get a suitcase if you need more space for your new purchases, what are the best areas to buy and more. Enjoy!
