Shopping in Amsterdam

Amsterdam shops at canal pace: design with a sense of humor, denim treated as scholarship, and chocolate two doors from a manifesto. The city’s best rooms are small, personal, and reached by bridge.

The walk: Amsterdam — Haarlemmerstraat to the Prinsengracht — 3 hours.

Tiered houses of Amsterdam

• De Bijenkorf Icon
  The Beehive on the Dam since 1870 — the Netherlands’ grand department store, its liveried doormen facing the Royal Palace. debijenkorf.nl
• Droog Icon
  Home of the 1993 collective that made Dutch design famous — the milk-bottle chandelier and chest-of-drawers-on-a-strap were born here; part shop, part manifesto. droog.com
• The Frozen Fountain Worth a Detour
  Dutch design’s living room on the Prinsengracht — Piet Hein Eek scrapwood, young graduates beside modern masters, canal light on everything. frozenfountain.com
• Tenue de Nîmes Hidden Gem
  Amsterdam’s denim scripture — named for the cloth’s birthplace; Japanese selvedge and Dutch ease on one rack. tenuedenimes.com
• Sukha Hidden Gem
  A slow-living atelier of linen, wool and paper — everything natural-toned, much of it made upstairs or by friends. sukha-amsterdam.nl
• Puccini Bomboni Hidden Gem
  Chocolates the size of small ambitions, made without machines — tamarind, pepper and gin bonbons two doors from Droog. puccinibomboni.com
• Concerto Hidden Gem
  Five canal houses of records since 1955 — new, used, jazz rooms, listening booths; Amsterdam’s musical memory. concerto.amsterdam