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Netherlands Information · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 20 Home Country: netherlands

SHOPPING IN NETHERLANDS (OTHER PLACES)

ROTTERDAM

You can shop till you drop in Rotterdam. On Lijnbaan, Holland's first car-free shopping promenade, which recently has been given a face-lift, you'll find dozens of small fashion boutiques. If you're pressed for time, the nearby De Bijenkorf department store, Coolsingel 105 (tel. 010/282-3700), sells a variety of designer labels under one roof. On one side, it opens onto the new Beurstraverse shopping mall, which runs below street level and has a mix of chain stores and small stores.

On the trendy south bank, the Entrepot, a 19th-century bonded warehouse, enjoys a new lease on life. In a place that defines the idea of fun shopping, you find distinct colonial overtones at Konmar, Vijf Werelddelen 33 (tel. 010/280-9888), the city's largest supermarket. There's also a colonnade of diverse restaurants overlooking a small marina and facing a row of exquisite interior design stores.

Back in the city centre, a huge general market brings alive the Binnenrotte area all day on Tuesday and Saturday. Part of the market (still 200 stalls!) also opens from May to December on Sunday afternoon. Lovers of antiques, bric-a-brac, and old books should make their way to the Sunday market on Schiedamsedijk.

THE HAGUE

Interesting shopping areas include Oude Molstraat and Denneweg in the city centre, where you find a concentration of authentic Dutch stores. Connected to Centraal Station, the modern Babylon shopping mall has two floors of over 60 shops, restaurants, and a luxury hotel.

A network of pedestrian streets offers a big selection of stores on Spuistraat, Vlamingstraat, Venestraat, and Hoogstraat. The covered Passage is a beautiful 19th-century arcade running from Spuistraat to Gravenstraat, though the shops it contains are nothing to write home about.

De Bijenkorf, Wagenstraat 32 (tel. 070/426-2700), in a stunning example of functional early-20th-century architecture, stands on Grote Marktstraat; and the stiffly chic Maison de Bonneterie, Gravenstraat 2 (tel. 070/330-5300), stands on Buitenhof.

Noordeinde and Oude Molenstraat are home to fashion boutiques, antiquarian booksellers, and expensive delicatessens. Leading off from Lange Voorhout, Denneweg and Frederikstraat are lined with high-priced antiques, interior design stores, and boutiques catering to specialties such as fashion for pregnant women. One of the largest interior-design stores is the multi-location Loft Interiors, part of which is in a stunning 1899 iron-and-glass showroom at Denneweg 56.

Among the top shopping attractions are a number of fine antiques stores and a weekly antiques and curios market under the beautiful canopy of trees on Lange Voorhout. The market runs May to September on Thursday from 9am to 7pm and Sunday from 10am to 5pm; and October to May, on Thursday from noon to 5pm. Year-round, on Wednesday, there is an organic farm market on the square around the Grote Kerk from 10am to 4pm.