Minimum Mouse's Diary: Vintage Shopping in Amsterdam

First of all, happy new year! Hope you all had lots of fun over Christmas and New Years and are all set for a fantastic 2014.

We saw in the new year in Amsterdam, which has firmly placed itself as one of my favourite European cities. It's easy to get to from the UK (we flew KLM from Birmingham, handy!) it's really easy to get around, there is loads of culture to soak up, cosy bars and restaurants everywhere and amazing shopping. We managed to spend a little time checking out the vintage shopping and thought we would share.

This is by no means an exhaustive guide to vintage shopping in Amsterdam, as there is a lot of vintage out there and we were only there a few days. In fact, on the Saturday after we left there was the giant monthly flea market called IJ-Hallen, which sounds amazing. I had read about it on Thrift-ola's blog - we will definitely need to go back to check that one out!

First up, the nine streets area. This is one of the best shopping spots in Amsterdam, it is a network of nine small streets which is jam packed full of lovely independent shops selling everything from cheese to a shop that just sells men's socks. There are a number of great vintage shops worth checking out here, such as Zipper and Bijons. Here I found the prices to be pretty much comparable to a lot of UK vintage shops, probably a little cheaper than most London vintage shops. There was also an amazing vintage opticians selling amazing vintage specs!


The amazing ceiling in Zipper

Another fun shop we visited was Vijzel on Vijzelstraat, where James found an amazing snakeskin coat (which thankfully he did not buy!) Love their retro Mac display!

We also visited the Waterlooplein market, which is a large mixed market rather than a specific flea market, but had a number of interesting vintage stalls. It is an easy walk from the Waterlooplein tram stop.

Here the prices were very reasonable, such as coats for 15 euro! Also in this area are a couple of interesting vintage shops, Retro & Chic 1953, a really lovely teeny tiny boutique that is crammed with mid century gems, and Episode which offers a huge array of stock.

Also here is Out Of The Closet, a US AIDS charity which has set up its first shop outside the US. Here we found a big range of products, varying from modern second hand items to some nice vintage pieces, and they had a 1 Euro Rail - definitely worth a look!

Finally, I must mention a shop that isn't really vintage at all, but is amazing. My favourite shop of all was Kitsch Kitchen, on Rozengracht, an amazing two story treasure trove of retro, colourful and downright crazy bits and bobs for the home. Such as a Spongebob pinata, because you never know when you might need one of those...