Books, Rotterdam

CULTURE ON 8 LEVELS / FLOORS....

This is my favourite book shop in Rotterdam.

Books in all kinds of languages...magazines...CDs....DVDs......books on Art, Architecture, Technique, Cooking, Children's Books and so much more that it IS REALLY NECESSARY TO HAVE COFFEE, TEA (FOR ME, WITH MILK PLEASE) OR SOMETHING COLD WITH CAKE OR.........LOOK FOR YOURSELF......at one of the 2-3 restaurants.....

In the shop is an elevator and many, many flights of stairs and lots of cosy corners.....

You can listen to all CDs you want to try!

What to buy: this again depends on your wallet and the number of family and friends that can appreciate a book as a present and.....for yoursel, that is when you are a BOOKWORM as I myself am: I eat my way through book after book and am insatiable.......

The shop is at Lijnbaan 150 and there are two dependances: Erasmus Universiteit, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50 Rotterdam and Ichthus Hogeschool, Vasteland 80 Rotterdam.

What to pay: depends.....

Good to know the founder of the bookshop De Slegte was born in Rotterdam. His name was Jan de Slegte, born in the beginning of the 20th century. He worked as a lamplighter and in his spare time he dealed in books.

He also had a succes-story like Bram Ladage and for now there are 22 chain stores in Holland, and 11 brancjes in Belgium. That is something !

Fact is that the De Slegte you can find for such a long time at the very same place at the Coolsingel, Rotterdam. I still get warm feelings when visiting Bookshop De Slegte, always happy to find my specially wanted book there ...

What to buy: Bookshop De Slegte got famous for its second-hand books where you could sell and buy. Antiquarian booksellings still are the best with De Slegte, you can find class-books and text-books, too. And see the collections of beautiful old photographs.

What to pay: It is second-hand bookshop, and at the same time there are some good antiquarian booksellings. Let's say De Slegte got some good books from 5 to 5000 Euro's ...

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After Foyles in London, this is the largest bookstore I have ever seen. It belongs to a chain called Selexyz and was renamed Selexyz Donner in late 2006. However, it is usually known as Donner only. On 8 floors and over 6000 square meters you will see the largest choice of books in the Netherlands. Beside that, also CDs, magazines, calendars and similar items are sold - just like in most larger bookshops. If you get tired of looking through all the shelves or get lost in the shop, take a break at the café.

What to buy: Books, of course. OK, most of what they sell is in Dutch, but the choice of books in foreign languages (mainly English) is also large.

There are quite some DE SLEGTE shops all over The Netherlands and even one in Antwerp!

These shop are huge and sell RAMSJ, new and 2nd hand books, also STUDY BOOKS and HOBBY BOOKS and so much more.....in all kinds or languages!

I love going there to look for 2nd hand books in English, German, French etc. which they sell for so little money, 1-18/10 euro (depends.....) and believe me, I almost always find what I want, almost......
BOOKS ON ART are formidable.........

In short every BOOKWORM should go there if only to have a look around......

You can also sell your own books (that you don't need/want to have anymore) there.......

What to buy: You can find DE SLEGTE SHOPS in:

Amsterdam
Arnhem
Eindhoven
Enschede
Den Haag = The Hague
Groningen
Haarlem
Leiden
Maastricht
Rotterdam address : see above/below
Utrecht
Zwolle

Antwerp in Belgium

Would you love having one of the addresses, just email me and I shall send it to you immediately!

What to pay: prices (low) are in the books

The largest bookstore in The Netherlands, 2500 square metres of books, multimedia, CD's (classical and modern) sheet music, exclusive games and toys...
A coffee shop and a lunch/dining restaurant. Exclusive stationary and pens.

You can easily spend a day here.
But I spent 11 years here as I worked in this shop, at the Erasmus University branch and at the bookstore on the Lijnbaan.

What to pay: Dutch-language books have a fixed price in The Netherlands. So book prices are the same in every bookstore.

Foreign language books (for instance English books for study or professionals) can differ in price depending on the moment of import. There's a special currency list for these books which is updated montly (if I remember correctly). It also depens on the amount that is imported by the bookstore. So these can differ in price but the basic calculation is the same in any bookstore.

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The Slegte is the biggest chain of second hand book stores in the Netherlands and Belgium.

It pays a visit to even find a cheap map or a study book you were looking for.

What to buy: Books