Vintage and second hand clothes fan?Amsterdam is the place to be!
Besides all the big international retailers in the city center ( Kalverstraat, Leidsestraat, Magna plaza mall, de Bijenkorf and much more) you will be able to find a lot of interesting cheap spots in this city.
IJ hallen market
Considered the biggest flea market of Europe, the IJ-Hallen market is situated in the north part of Amsterdam. You can easily reach it by ferry: you need to take ferry service nr. 906 from Central Station towards NDSM-werf. If you forget to bring cash with you there is an ATM machine as soon as you get out from the ferry. It will take you 5 minutes walking to arrive at the market.
The Ij Hallen (announce that weird IJ thing as Y) is usually organized once per month and it is both on Saturday and Sunday. You can check the calendar on the their website to see when it will be scheduled again. Entrance to this place is 5euros.
The market is usually host in two huge industrial buildings and it takes at least 2/3 hours to visit the whole area. You can mostly find second hand clothes, accessories, house decoration items, toys and vintage furniture. Common people can rent a stand and go there for an entire day selling all different types of goods. All the items are usually very cheap. You can buy shoes or clothes in very good condition for an average of 2-5 euros.
Waterlooplein Market
Situated in the heart of Amsterdam, closed to the Main City Hall and the Opera Ballet building , the Waterlooplein market is a big outdoor day market where you can find new and second hand clothes, old books, vintage stuff and also some nice food. It is open from Monday to Saturday until 17:30.
It is the oldest market in Amsterdam and it is characterized by many second hand bike shops ( the main location to buy a bike for new expats in town) and a lot of vintage selection. I must say sometimes you must search a lot before finding a good piece, but it is still worth it. There are a lot of spots where it can look like a big pile of garbage but I can tell you you can buy nice stuff for 1 euro if you know how to search!
The location is beautiful and it sunny days it is a pleasure to walk among the canals.Since it is situated to in the Citycenter, some of the stands sell all kind of souvenirs for tourists.
Suggestion: try the Greek food stand: the food arrives directly from Greece and it is super “lekker”.
The 9 Streets
De negen straatjes is a shopping district spreading between Singel- and Prinsengracht canals. The area is very cool, you can find a lot of trendy brands, fashionable bars and a lot of stylish people walking around. Concept stores, healthy bio food and the latest denim shops are populating these streets.
Even if the customer target is completely different and these shops are aiming to sell to an higher client level, you can still find nice vintage boutiques, some for accessible prices.
One of the most popular ones is the famous Episode. At the corner of Berenstraat, this shop belongs to a famous European chain that transforms clothes donated to charity to new vintage pieces. The shop is quite famous among the hipster crowd.
Another popular shop is Laura Dols. Here you can find a big selection of clothes and accessories from the 50’s. As soon as you look at the shop window, it is a joy of colors! The evening and party garments are imported directly from Los Angeles. The shop has the largest collection of glitter and glamour pieces in the Netherlands. A particular feature of the shop is the bride antique collection. This is situated in a different location and it can be visited only by appointment.
there is also a selection of second hand children costumes between 0-10 years old.
If you walk around this area, I am sure you will find many occasions to shop and see different kind of styles.
Enjoy the shopping spree!
