De Bijenkorf
; this upmarket store offers a lot in terms of better clothing, perfumes, fashion articles, jewellery and the like. the store offers quality, but it comes at a price. every year in october there's a special sale called 3 dwaze dagen, the 3 mad days during which you run the risk of being trampelled over by stampeding bargain hunters.
Vroom & Dreesmann
; a more middle class department store. rather lacking in allure, v&d as it is always called, is an average priced store that offers value. the assortment is rather broad and varies from food to children's games and clothing. a safe bet, but not special.
HEMA
; this star of dutch budget shopping has a limited range of clothing, food and hardware. hema has a reputation of delivering quality goods at very competitive prices. a lot of what it sells is of a fresh and bright design.
The main shopping areas in the center are the Lijnbaan and the Hoogstraat. Both are pedestrianised. The Lijnbaan, which runs straight south from the Weena close to Rotterdam Centraal was the first pedestrianised shopping street in the world when it was built in 1953. Now it is more of an average shopping street with average shops. In weekends it's very crowded. Linking the Lijnbaan with the Hoogstraat is the Beurstraverse, dubbed Koopgoot Buying-gutter. A subterrainean passage, also connecting to Beurs metro station. It's all rather big and somewhat strange for a Dutch city, but it fits perfectly into the Rotterdam aspiration of being different. If you're looking for it, ask for the Koopgoot, as the official name is little known.
There are about 12 larger and smaller open air markets dotted around Rotterdam. Most of them are enjoyable places to walk through. A nice place to visit is the inner City Market Tue and Sat, in summer also on Sun a smaller version which is a huge about 450 stalls open air food and hardware market. It's at the eastern end of the Hoogstraat on the Binnenrotte. Metro: Blaak. More exotic and colourful is the Afrikaanderplein Market South of the river, Metro: Maashaven. This market is geared very much towards Rotterdam inhabitants of Antillian, South American or African descent a lot of whom happen to live nearby. Wed and Sat, about 300 stalls.
Department storesThe Beurstraverse gives direct access to the city's main department stores:
Sustainable shoppingDe Groene Passage is a collection of sustainable shops including a grocery store, restaurant, bookstore and butchery. Mariniersweg 1 â 33 near Blaak train- and metrostation.
Things to buyDutch cheese is very famous, you can get some at grocery stores or wider variety at the marketplace. Other typical Dutch things are stroopwafels, hagelslag and drop liquorice.