In the Hoogstraat (close to the Zwarte Panter, check the Zwarte Panter article) there is a little shop called ‘Achter de Maan’ (Behind the Moon).

It is not so easy to tell what they are selling, but it is always fun. They have a lot of design things, and a lot of toys. One of the characteristics is that almost all objects are funny. They make me smile. There are original umbrella’s (in the shape of little persons), bags, funny kitchen stuff and Japanese toys. The sell similar things to Akotee (check the Akotee article) on the Melkmarkt, but yet they have their own style. In Dutch we call the things they sell ‘hebbedingetjes’: little things you want to have, but that are mostly not needed.

What I don’t like is that they sell a lot of plastic and that it is a little bit too expensive. But is is really a great shop to find the perfect present. For somebody else or for yourself.

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Achter de Maan | Shopping
Hoogstraat 45 | Meir | +3232907292
Mon & Wed – Sat 10:00 – 18:00, Sun 12:00 – 18:00

We have a very small Chinatown in Antwerp. It is only one street. But in our small Chinatown is a very large Asian supermarket: Sun Wah. I don’t know what the name means but it is like a trip to Asia: Everybody speaks Chinese, the products are strange and beautiful, and it smells intriguing. Sometimes I don’t know whether it is a vegetable or fruit and when I have a box with strange signs on in my hands it can be impossible to understand what is in it. My mother bought once a can with snake in it. I didn’t want to taste it.

But it is a great experience to come here. I really love it!

I come there when I want to prepare some Asian dishes or when I’m looking for a special oystersauce for example, but I always buy something new, something I didn’t try before, or something completely mysterious.

I suppose it looks really like Asia in this wonderfull supermarket, but it probably is an asian supermarket with a Belgian undertone.

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Sun Wah | Shopping
Van Wesenbekestraat 16-18 | Stationsbuurt | +3237707714
Mon – Sat 09:00 – 18:00

There is a little shop in the Volksstraat in Antwerp where they sell strange but beautiful things. When it opened several years ago I didn’t expect that it would be such a success. Now I know why it is still there. It is one of shops that stays true to what they do…

The name of the shop means ‘Stone and Bone’ and that’s exactly what they sell. They have fossils, little skeletons of rodents (and sometimes bigger animals), antlers, pinned butterflies etc. It’s all very decorative and very classy. Of course they don’t sell anything illegal or any endangered species. They have also educational toys that stay true to the core idea of the shop. The result is a very cosy and warm shop where I like to come from time to time.

For example: when I’m completely desperate looking for a nice gift for somebody. A lamp made from a seahedgehog, some pearls of the sea, shells, a tooth of a shark. You can find great things for very little money. I’m enjoying just being there, or looking in the window. Nice owners with an eye for style. And it’s not expensive. That’s how I like it!

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Steen en Been | Shopping
Volkstraat 59 | Zuid | +3232372522
Tue – Sat 11:00 – 18:00

When you are in Antwerp on a Friday morning, it is something you really have to see: the strange and famous ‘Vrijdagse Markt’.

It’s great and it’s so typically Antwerp. It’s Friday morning adventure. A second hand market but as an auction: they talk really ‘aantwaarps’ and sometimes you think they will be fighting soon because people get all excited.

They mostly sell furniture and bicycles but it is incredible what else you can buy there: a box with toothbrushes made in 1963, a complete correspondence between a mother and a son over twenty years, a broken toaster, etc. Sometimes it is real rubbish and sometimes it is a treasure. A lot of the things come from old people that died, shops that went bankrupt.

It starts at nine in the morning and it finishes at one o’clock in the afternoon. The garbage car comes between one and two and cleans the whole square. And that’s necessary. All the things that nobody wanted are left behind.

I don’t know how long it already exists, but I guess it has always been there. I’m mostly working on a Friday morning and I don’t go there often, but when I have the chance I don’t want to miss it, this special market, so lively, so energetic.

Tip: the museum of Plantijn en Moretus is on the same square…

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Friday Market | Art & culture, Shopping | Free
Vrijdagmarkt | Meir
Fri 09:00 – 13:00

On a lazy Sunday I love to walk through the Kloosterstraat. It’s my favorite ‘window shop street’. Most of the shops sell antiques: furniture, books, nice African antiques, etc. Some sell bathroom antiques, others sell Christmas decoration or fifties-objects. The fun is that there is this great amusing diversity and incredible curiosa.

The Kloosterstraat is like a constant changing open air museum where you can buy the strangest objects. If you have enough money of course. That’s an important detail: almost everything in the Kloosterstraat is heavily overpriced. But it is a pleasure to discover all the secret objects that are lost in time and lost in the Kloosterstraat.

They say that this street has an international reputation and that a lot of wardrobes and tables and books and stuff are sold overseas, but that I don’t know. What I do know is that I’m full of plans and dreams when I walk through this street. Plans for how I’m going to decorate that really big castle when I have that disgraceful amount of money.

I find it an amusing walk to the city center because every time I see things that I cannot believe or things that I never expected to see ever again. I can recommend a spaziergang to the South through the Kloosterstraat. And if you can resist all the beautiful things, it’s free…

On Monday and Tuesday the most shops are closed. The weekend is the best moment to visit this street…

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Kloosterstraat | Art & culture, Shopping
Kloosterstraat | Sint Andries
Aproximately Wed – Sun 10:00 – 18:00

Even when you’re not a metal or Gothic or a punk-fan, there’s a shop in the Kammenstraat in Antwerp that is great fun and worth a visit. ‘Fans’ is a clothing shop for Gothics and vampires, and other subcultures and species… You can almost permanently find youngsters with extreme black clothing in this strange shop that has opened the seventies.

The owners of the Fans faced a lot of difficulties and lawsuits over the years because the neighbors considered them dangerous and provocative. But the people that come here may look dangerous, they are often insecure and mostly very nice. When I spoke to the owner last week, he told me: ‘We only get bloodthirsty after closing time…’ I thought this was very funny. In September they wrote `Black to School…’ on the windows.

I used to be afraid to go inside, but since a while I go there sometimes and wander around in the very little shop. It is a lot of fun. They sell the strangest things. I got me a ‘Giant Microbe’ – they’re like teddy bear microbes. I got “the flu”. They also sell coffin-shaped wallets, and of course a lot of clothes. Some are really wearable for ‘outsiders’.

This shop is an icon in Antwerp; almost everybody knows ‘the Fans’ and it is a part of this city. They say it’s a gate to the Underworld, but it is also an interesting place with interesting objects…

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Fans | Shopping
Kammenstraat 80 | Meir | +3232323172
Mon – Sat 11:00 – 18:00

The Antwerp city centre is a shopping Walhalla. However, allow yourself to wander off the beaten track to discover unique little shopping paradises. Or in this case, a real shopping ‘palace’!

Here you can find everything to fit in with the fe/male Antwerpians: Shoes, clothes (from pretty dresses to tough lumberjack shirts) and accessories. And of course -my trademark- all very affordable.

The staff are very friendly. They always say hello, but they leave you to your shopping. But when you need some help to squeeze into that skinny jeans, they’re right at your service! Be sure to ask for a ‘Paleis kaart’ and you’ll get a 10% reduction right away. Also, you always get a cute reusable shopping bag that has come in handy for me about a million times.

On top of all that, they often have mid-season sales and late night shopping with free drinks and snacks. You should check their Facebook page for that.

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Paleis | Shopping
Lange Koepoortstraat 39 | Meir | +3232323891
Mon & Wed – Sat 10:30 – 18:00, Sun 14:00 – 18:00

Criée isn’t just a food store, but actually a market hall roofing Antwerp’s best butchers and a gourmet supermarket.

I always had a hard time finding a butcher in Antwerp, there aren’t too many, until I discovered this place! It’s like in the Middle Ages where all the craftsmen of the same trade are located in the same street. You wonder how all the different butchers don’t drink each others blood (no pun intended), but they all have there own specialty. So for a dinner party, this is where I buy good quality poultry, lamb or game. And don’t be shy to ask advice how to prepare the meat, these are the real specialists! The shops also have a real crafty feel to them.

So whenever you feel like going to a market, and rain is pouring down (which happens quite often in Antwerp) be sure to make a stop at Criée.

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Criée | Shopping, Snacks
Van Schoonhovestraat 21 | Stationsbuurt
Tue – Fri 08:00 – 19:00, Sat – Sun 09:00 – 18:00

One day you will tell your children you used to buy music in a shop. And when you describe this shop, ‘Fat Kat’ is your perfect prototype! This is one of the only remaining independent record shops in Antwerp, and I think the reason it still exists is love! Love for music.

The owner still carefully selects all the music (cd and vinyl, new and 2nd handed) that you can’t find in your average department store. That new underground sound you just discovered yesterday, you can probably find here today.

I also love the simplicity of the interior, the colourful postered walls and the easiness to find what you’re looking for. You might walk inside in a nostalgic mood and step back outside holding a little treasure you’ve been looking for ages!

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Fat Kat Records | Music, Shopping
Lange Koepoortstraat 51 | Meir | +3232320941
Tue – Thu 12:00 – 18:00, Fri – Sat 10:30 – 18:00

‘Kringloopwinkels’ have become real popular in Belgium. Literally it means ‘shop of the circle of life’, and it’s meaning is to give objects a ‘new life’ at someone else’s home. So instead of throwing away what you don’t need anymore, they come pick it up at your home for free, and probably make someone else really happy with it! Also it’s a social project providing job opportunities for people whom have trouble finding work.

All these ‘treasures’ you can go buy at very reasonable prices at the shops, and one of my favourites is ‘de Kringwinkel’ in the Kroonstraat. It has a very funky interior, and often things are arranged thematically. Here you can find just about anything: from fancy china to clothes, furniture (I just bought a vintage sixties dressoir for €20, yay!) to electronics, books and sometimes even a piano! All the goods are tested and cleaned by the personnel, on the electronics you even get a half-year of warranty. Also they have recently started an auction site for real collectibles.

The hype has become so big there are real ‘Kringwinkel-hunters’, people whom drive from one shop to another on a Saturday in hope to find a real treasure, or others whom buy stuff here and make something new out of it. The circle of life, quoi!

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Kringwinkel | Shopping
Kroonstraat 166 | Stationsbuurt | +3232709900
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 18:00