‘De 9 Straatjes’ stands for nine cosy and picturesque shopping streets, situated the middle of the World Heritage Canal Belt of Amsterdam – just a few steps behind Dam Square. Or on the way from the Rijksmuseum to Anne Frank House. This delightful neighbourhood is brimming with unique shops, charming eateries and great ambience. Anyone spending an afternoon here is sure to take home unexpected finds. It’s a much nicer and more special shopping area than the city center near Kalverstraat and Leidsestraat, where you have the big multinational shops they have in every big city.
Gasthuismolensteeg
Museum of glasses, original gifts at ‘It’s a present’, hand made jewellery at atelier MeCHICas, Les Deux Frères clothing boutique, the “Things I Like Things I Love” shop, PRJCT AMS (a fashion collaboration) and the Cold press juicery for healthy juices like these. For a coffee or a beer visit Café ’t Molentje, on the corner with the Singel canal.
Gasthuismolensteeg is ideal if you look for a nice present or gift for someone, or to visit the Glasses Museum.
For a healthy cold pressed juice stop here.
Les Deux Frères is a beautiful clothing boutique and “Het Molentje” a typical Dutch café.
Hartenstraat
Hester van Eeghen designer shoes, Fabienne Chapot design clothing, Essentiel (Antwerp), The Gamekeeper (a speciality shop in original board games), DR Wonen interior shop, Eddy Varekamp with his prints/silkscreens and for shoe lovers: a Timberland ánd Dr. Martens store. For the food and drink side: stop at Screaming Beans for a coffee or have a sandwich or salad at “Van Harte”.
Hartenstraat is nice for some serious designer clothing and shoes brands, interior shopping ánd the speciality shop in Amsterdam for ‘old fashioned’ board games.
Totally in love with the prints and posters of Eddy Varekamp. I want them all in my interior.
‘Essentiel Antwerp’ for colourful ladies wear with a playful touch.
Reestraat
Lovely interior and accessoires shop “De Weldaad”, Zoe Karssen designer shop, Red Wing shoes, L’toile de Saint Honoré, Pluk for lunch or gifts (my very favourite place in 9 streets!) and ’the Hoek’ coffee corner for a quick espresso during your shopping session. If you feel like oysters and steak tartare, then rush to the lovely Jansz. restaurant, part of the Pulitzer Hotel.
“De Weldaad” is an interior shop with lovely fabrics. If you are looking for a new blanket for the couch, or cushions, this is the place to stop.
Pluk is a lovely place for cake and coffee, or an healthy lunch! They have nice gifts too!
Berenstraat
Avoir – to have boutique, Dutch pancake house for pancake cravings, TravelteQ smart travelling (the most beautiful leather travel bags and accessoires), Parisienne fashion accessories and jewellery, Mendo for fashion, photography, interior, architecture and graphic design ‘coffee table’ books, Scotch & Soda, Goosecraft (leather jackets).
Wolvenstraat
Marqt organic supermarket, Haar Barbaar cool ‘hipster’ hairdresser and clean shave for men, Samsøe & Samsøe Scandinavian minimalistic clothing brand (that I absolutely love), Rapha Cycle Club Amsterdam (an upmarket store for professional cycle wear that you could even wear as casual clothing), Kaldi Coffee corner, Filippa K and Black Bike City Bike rental Amsterdam. For Food ‘n Drinx you go to Cafe Brinx.
Organic supermarket Marqt has a lot to offer for foodies who like to eat (as much as possible) organic.
Samsøe & Samsøe is favourite for me. Scandinavian minimalism with quality.
For the men: go for a fresh shave and haircut to “Haar Barbaar” in the Wolvenstraat.
Oude Spiegelstraat
Acne Studios design clothing and shoes, PS Petit Salon, Shoediction and the Literary travel book shop ‘De Evenaar’ (the Equator) are all located in de Oude Spiegelstraat. Around the corner at the Herengracht Canal Side one can find Buffet van Odette and Toos & Roos, both very nice lunch hotspots. If you want to try typical Dutch liquor, walk a bit further down on Herengracht towards the Tasting Room of Van Wees – one of the most well known distillers of Amsterdam.
The designer items from Acne Studios are famous all over the world, from NYC to Berlin, and from Paris to Amsterdam. I love their pistol boots and their soft scarfs.
Picturesque shopping in the Nine Streets of Amsterdam.
If you like to travel (and read about it), make sure you you stop at literary travel book shop ‘Evenaar’.
Wijde Heisteeg
From all the nine streets the Wijde Heisteeg is quite the shortest and less interesting one, but with two good reasons to stop: The Cheese Company, where one can taste and buy real Dutch cheese, and Sjareria “Libanese” street food, delicious. You can also find Rosa, the Italian Fashion Outlet, in this street.
The Amsterdam Cheese Company in the Wijde Heisteeg.
Huidenstraat
Superga sneakers, SAM Friday, We Are Labels, Beautés de la Nature skin care, Ace & Tate glasses (design look-a-like glasses for reasonable prices), Rain Couture and for a beer or glass of wine at the end of your day: Café ‘De Pels’.
Skincare at ‘Beautés de la Nature’.
Sweet and comfortable underwear for men and woman at SAM FRIDAY.
Coffee, tea or a glass of wine/beer at the end of your shopping day at Café de Pels.
Amsterdam is cool but it can rain. Therefore you have to look fashionable in your rain coat from ‘Rain Couture’.
Runstraat
Last but not least: Runstraat, a lovely 9th street. With Loom & Lace fashion, Toms shoes (with the concept “buy a pair of cool fair trade shoes, donate automatically a pair to Africa”), Vanilia clothing (great for smart casual business look for women), Skins Cosmetics (exclusive skin products and make-up, and a full range of Diptique fragrance interior candles), the beautiful flower shop ‘Gerda’s Bloemen en Planten’, LaDress for the perfect feminine dress, Timothy Oulton Interior shop, Denham Jeans shop and the Wine shop “De Wijnwinkel’.
Cheeses at “De Kaaskamer of Amsterdam”.
Skins Cosmetics has a lot perfumes, and they sell Diptyque as well; thé luxury brand for fragrance interior candles.
Flowers and plants at Gerda’s.
Vanilia offers stylish and chic female clothing for both business and casual occasions.
Timothy Oulton interior. From kitchen to bathroom to living; they have it all.
‘De Wijnwinkel’ to discover new wines.
*Note: I have not been asked, paid or invited to write about The Nine Streets shopping area in Amsterdam. It was my own idea. All images are mine, made with a Canon EOS M3 camera, or an iPhone 6s. The map below with the 9 streets isn’t mine, but found on this website.
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Mapping
Here you see an image from the 9 streets. I started my walk on the Gasthuismolensteeg, closest to the Singel Canal and closest to Amsterdam Central Station. Click here for the starting point of this route on Google Maps.
