Haarlem Shopping

When it rains and you do want to shop without an umbrella, you can go to Schalkwijk. There are many shops here ith one big roof on it. A lot of them are the same as in Haarlem city centre. If you drive here yourself, get ready....you can park for free!!!

Talking about an original store! This drugstore was opened in 1849 and the present owner is a descentdant of the shop's founder. The interior still is the same as in 1849. In the 1920s the construction of the V&D departmentstore threatened to end the store excistence, but at the time the resistance of the shop's owner prevented demolishing and the shop became an integral part of the new construction.

What to buy: Drugs for animals, oils, candy, herbs and more.

Haarlem is renowned as Flower City. Every year the Flower Parade ends in Haarlem and all the flower carts are on display for everybody to see.
Flowers are beautiful to look at, nice to give and even nicer to get!
Inge & Inge is a flower shop in the loveliest street of Haarlem, the Warmoesstraat.
They have been voted shop with best display, if I remember correctly. See picture to understand why. If you are looking for a beautifully arranged bouquet, this is the place!

I found a whole row of these shops on my way to the town center from the train station. With your back facing the station look left (most people will be going right). There past the parking deck, you will see a street, walk right (toward the big church in the skyline).
What I did was scope out what they had, planning to finish my walking tour of Haarlem, then return to purchase, so I wouldn’t have to carry anything while sightseeing.

Sorry I forgot to take a pictue, I was having too much fun shopping.

I might have a tip about that somewhere else on my pages, but I can tell you again. My favortie souvenirs are mugs, cups, glasses, plates, bowls etc etc. I just love using my souvenirs at home and think about my trips during breakfast, lunch, dinner and inbetween. Finding out if I'm in a Mexico mood, or rather have a glass of water Paris style, or a cup of coffee thinking about Mallorca etc.

The mugs etc in souvenir stores are usually not my type of souvenir so I rather head to the department stores or kitchen equipment stores to find something there. The V&D Store in Haarlem had a lot to offer, and I had almost decided to get some espresso cups - when I saw the plates you see in the picture below. Perfect to use when eating my fav dutch food - bread covered in hagelslag :-)) I bought a second one with a croissant printed on. And in a supermarkt I got some hageslag of course and now have the ingredients for a perfect breakfast for the dutch moments in life ;-)

Btw, on the 5th and 6th floor of the department store they have a really nice place to eat, check my restaurant tip.

I always enjoy visiting the supermarkets abroad to see all the different products you can never get at home. I was really hoping to find some authentic Dutch food for a picnic, but there was little to be found here that was exclusively Dutch or that I couldn't buy back in Britain.

We went for a bite on the top floor of this supermarket building.
The other floors are reserved for all different kinds of stuff you can think of: food, cloths, fait divers.
The Supermarket is housed in a beautiful Art Deco building, really a piece to see, if only for the architecture!

The invasion of the Belgian fresh chocolat shops!
Not maybe highest in quality but sure considered price/qualtiy amongst the very best: Leonida's.

What to buy: All kinds of fresh chocolats ofcourse!

What to pay: Prices can only go up, last time it was about +12 Euro/kilo, which is, considered the good quality a very fair price.