If you like vintage clothes and accessories, you’ll love Amsterdam. The best places to go for second-hand bits and pieces are:
Noordermarkt: on Mondays the Noordermarkt in the Jordaan, one of Amsterdam’s most authentic areas, is filled with stalls selling vintage clothes and accessories like bags, shoes, belts and jewellery from the sixties, seventies and eighties.
Noordermarkt; tram 6, 7 or 10
Waterlooplein: More vintage shopping at the Waterlooplein, a ten minute walk from the Rembrandtplein, bustling with merchants six days a week. Definitely the place to go when you’re looking for leather jackets, fur coats, jeans, or home ware from grandma’s era.
Waterlooplein; metro 51, 53, 54 or tram 9
Zipper: If you’re more into indoor than outdoor shopping, one of the best places for fashionable vintage is Zipper. The checked blouses and oversized baseball shirts are men’s favourites, women like everything at Zipper.
Zipper; Huidenstraat 7, 1016 ER Amsterdam (0031-20-6237302) and Nieuwe Hoogstraat 10, 1011 HE Amsterdam (20 623 70353)
Laura Dols: A no-go area for men, but women will love this shop. You’ll enjoy browsing the dresses and skirts they sell at Laura Dols. From the thirties all the way up to the eighties; if Marilyn Monroe were still alive, she would be shopping here.
Laura Dols; Wolvenstraat 6-7, 1016 EM Amsterdam (20 624 9066)
The 9streets (or in dutch "de Negen straatjes" is indeed the best vintage shopping area in Amsterdam. Here in Amsterdam the top two vintage shop are Zipper and Episode, both have two shops near the centre and if you would come to visit Amsterdam you should definitely check them out.Zipper is located on Huidenstraat 7 and Nwe. Hoogstraat 10. It also has a website so you can check out what they have and how it looks and stuff, check them out on www.zipperstore.nl
Episode is on Berenstraat 1 and on the Waterlooplein itself.
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Ree-member (26 Reestraat), Lady Day (9 Hartenstraat), Zipper (7 Huidenstraat), Second Best (18 Wolvenstraat)
My favourite, spread across two shops, is Laura Dolls (6 and 7 Wolvenstraat). The first shop is the casual daywear half and, just metres opposite, there is a shop selling evening wear. Although mainly for women there is stuff for men and a children’s section, with some great fancy dress costumes. It's very fairly priced and there are bargain bins as well as a huge selection of dresses in very good condition. There are also plenty of boots, belts and bags, but not all that much jewellery.
Shops open later than in England, I went for a look around on a Saturday when most of them opened at 11.
I only had chance to visit one market, Waterlooplein. Whilst there are good things to be found it takes a good root round to get to them, and there is a lot of tat. Not just bad quality second hand stuff, which I can kind of tolerate, but touristy rubbish too. There is also a shop called Episode on the edge of the market with yet more vintage clothes. From what I have read there are probably better markets to go to if you have limited time.
As Amsterdam is pretty compact, just walking round the city you tend to stumble across second-hand shops but I think De 9 Straatjes is the place to aim for.