May 23 2009
LittleLady Goes Shopping in Netherlands
If you have read about the Netherlands in tourist books and brochures, you must be aware by now that the country is famous for their windmills, tulips, cows, the red light districts, legal marijuana and herring. Those are indeed all part of the Dutch identity but I am going to talk about them another time.
In addition to these cultural symbols, the Dutch is also very well known to be people of extreme stingyness. The book The UnDutchables published by two expratiates in Netherlands tagged its people as the “tao of tightness”. According to the book, this trait of strict frugality came from a Clavinism point of view. They are very thrifty with everything and would not want to waste anything.
It is a surprise then why a lot of designer boutiques and very expensive brands are trhiving in this country. Well, the Dutch also have a love for beautiful things with very good quality. But since I chose to adopt the frugality, and also because I am not earning enough euros yet, I buy my clothes where the average Dutch will.
Every woman must at least buy one piece every month and I as a little lady make sure I follow that rule. There are a lot of clothing stores in Netherlands where you can buy affordable clothes as well as those stores you can only dream about if you’re purse is not thick enough.. It’s always tempting to step in one of these stores and cart away every time you are in the city center only for a leisure walk. So what I do to resist the urge to part with my hard earned euros, I haunt for affordable stores where I can buy clothes that are of good design but the cost of a Chinese lunch.
I would like to share with you some of the shops that I frequent in Netherlands, especially in Rotterdam. In these shops, you wouldn’t mind spending money like a millionare because even after you purchased three tops in one buy, you can still go home with a change from your EUR20.
1. Zeeman - I discovered the store in our little city in the south of Holland. I was looking for a pair of sunglasses when I first arrived in the spring. Zeeman is well known in Rotterdam for very cheap items, from toys to clothes. In this store I was able to buy a nice sunglasses for EUR1,99, a decent polo shirt for my boyfriend at EUR1,99 and a comfortable sweater for him for EUR8,99. I also got them some of my cosmetics which I will say is not very good. But I love their perfumes, the Moara Shira brand which sells for EUR2,99 ofr a 50ml and it smells so good. Well at least the one I got.
2. Kiki Riki - This clothes stores is located in Lijnbaan in Rotterdam. I was pursuade inside by big signs plastered in its windows which screams “Tops voor EUR5″. Since then I developed this principle of not buying a top more than EUR5. I had been coming back to Kiki Riki since that faithful day I bought my first long sleeve turtle neck. In my last visits I carted away another black turtle neck and a long sleeve for EUR3,99.
3. H&M - This store is probably known in the whole world for their quality but affordable clothes. And I am one of their millions of clients. I regularly check sales in H&M and already bought three items from them, a EUR16,00 white mail bag, a EUR9,00 blazer and EUR9,00 dress. And I am loving these items every moment I share with them because they look so good on me, sturdy enough to weather their (almost) everyday use and provides me with so much comfort as well.
These are just three of the stores that I can share for now. I will be coming up with more as this blog develops. I hope you will come back for more of my stories.
Happy shopping everyone and enjoy!
