One of the prominent shopping areas in Antwerp is the Meir that is a street which stretches from the Keyserlei to the Groenplaats. It is even one of the most famous shopping streets in Belgium. The streets Hopland and Schuttershofstraat are the shopping areas of rich and famous as it provides exclusive fashion shops out there like Cartier, Hermes, Scapa, Armani, etc. The Huidevettersstraat, Nationalestraat, and Kammenstraat are another very interesting shopping street there to visit.
In Antwerp trendy shopping can be done at Kammenstraat and other surrounding areas. Along this area you can find the Fashion Museum and many shops from the famous Antwerp fashion designer like as Walter van Beirendonck and Dries van Noten. Chinatown there is located around 300m north of the Central Station. A good number of Japanese, Korean and Chinese products can be found there. In Chinatown that is situated about 300m north of the Central Station, there a lot of Japanese, Korean and Chinese products can be found out there.
Weekend Markets in Antwerp held in Antwerp on the Theaterplein Square in front of the Stadsschouwburg theatre. There markets is quite popular with stalls offering everything starting from food, fruit and veg, meat, fish, nuts, cheese ethnic specialities to household goods and bicycles to clothes. On Sundays these markets generally have more stall than Saturday.
The Grand Bazar Shopping Centre is fairly newest malls in Antwerp and situated in the heart of the city, along the Beddenstraat and right next to the Hilton Hotel. Earlier it was a historic department stores, the Grand Bazar provides a good variety of small shops, along with terrace dining and stylish surroundings.
Diamond Purchase in Antwerp
When it comes to sale and purchase of Diamond jewelry then, there is no parallel to diamond business in Antwerp as it produces about 85% of world diamond jewelry. However for procuring Diamond jewelry in Antwerp, one should be aware of buying from tourist trap shops around the central station. Therefore one should go for procuring and purchasing diamond at the diamond district centers in Antwerp. However, diamonds one can procure at reasonable prices from Burie (Korte Gasthuisstraat 3) or Del Rey (Appelmansstraat 5).
The history of Antwerp as the World Diamond Center takes birth from two primary diamond trade routes that passed through Venice. On the far end of the trade route used to be situated Bruges a German city that developed into a flourishing diamond cutting center and there city’s reputation gradually improved with span of time. With passage of time, the diamond trade during sixteenth century passed away to Antwerp that was expanding as a flourishing at the time. By the time Antwerp even invented techniques and technology for diamond cutting and polishing.
It was in 1866, the first diamond was discovered in South Africa and this changed fortune for Antwerp. And many big discoveries were made subsequently in diamond mining sector, therefore massive influx of rough stones following the discoveries in South Africa led into the growth of Antwerp as a leading diamond cutting center. Within a few months, this massive influx provided work for thousands of craftsmen, and the swift revival of diamond cutting in Antwerp was further stimulated by an ever-growing demand for gemstones. Diamond industry, though suffered a setback during World War I and World War II but things improved and diamond industry again prospered in Antwerp.
Another place for a diamond connoisseur should visit Diamondland; an exhibition center where public can observe cutters and setters through windowed booths. Another must visit place there is a Diamond Museum. Where one can have entire history how Diamond industry flourished in Antwerp.
• Antiques: Kloosterstraat, Lange Koepoortstraat, Leopoldstraat and Wolstraat are the areas that are known to be a Latin Quarter situated close to the Antwerp Fashion Museum are upmarket chic boutiques. This antique market expands across to St Andries. In Antwerp another places for antique shops is Leopoldstraat. Volkstraat is the area for lighting, home decor and Art Nouveau. Kloosterstraat is a very nice place to hunt for bric-a-brac over there.
Fashion Shopping in Antwerp
The primary shopping street in Antwerp is Meir and among most of the shops at this street are busy international chain stores. Primarily in and around Nationalestraat, areas Dries van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Walter van Beirendonck and Marina Yee are good for fashion shopping. The most noted shopping spot there is Het Modepaleis, at No 16. Since 1989, this grand former outfitter’s has been the flagship store of Dries Van Noten, one of several local designers who provided Antwerp a space and name in international fashion map.
Schutterhofstraat too is fine for fashionistas. For urban street wear Kammenstraat, St Antoniusstraat and Nationalstraat are good places. Kammenstraat is preferred for younger fashion, primarily for Fish & Chips.
For shoes Coccodrillo, at Schuttershofstraat, 9, is one of the best places to buy for. Steenhouwersvest 14 is the famous shop in Antwerp that specializes in modern furniture even dating back to Fifties to the Seventies, and has great chairs and lights. It has vintage Hermès scarves, old handbags and a rail of vintage and second-hand clothes. Another popular shop for furniture in Antwerp is Bazar Bizar, Steenhouwersvest 18 that sells exotic collection of furniture, silks, sandals, trinkets and accessories from Morocco, Indonesia and the Far East.
• Beer: From around 350 brands of beer and in Antwerp you will get all the best brands.
• Chocolates: Belgians are also famous for producing the best chocolates from the century and the Pralines is its national specialty which is even available in Antwerp in abundance.