Orbit Around Reality: Shopping tip: Antwerp

Since I'm living in Leuven at this moment to go to university, I'm not spending so much time in Antwerp as I used to. Nevertheless, it's still my favorite city in Belgium to go shopping. The city offers you an endless variety of shops, going from the classic ones like Zara and H&M, to some concept stores where you'll want to stay for several hours. Here you have a small selection of our favorite shops to visit.

HAY Antwerpen - Scandinavian design

HAY was founded in 2002 by Rolf Hay, a Danish interior designer. HAY's ambition is to encourage Danish furniture design's return to the innovative greatness of the 1950's and 1960's in a contemporary context. They strive to make good design accessible by supplying their trademark designs with affordable price tags.

HAY Antwerpen is the first HAY pilot store in Belgium and one of six in the entire world. In the shop you'll find almost every product from their collection, going from colorful accessories to furniture. They'll help you with inspiration, information about design, colors, sizes, materials and so on.
You can actually call this a real "destination shop", because you'll really have to be attentive to see the shop due to his location.

View from the street

Ijzerenwaag 12a - 2000 Antwerpen
T.: +32 3 344 95 01
@: info@hayantwerpen.com
Facebook page - Official website

YOUR Premium Store - Concept store

YOUR Premium Store is a concept store with brands and products to lick on's thumbs and fingers, situated in Antwerp's vibrant antiques area. It is a unique and exciting shopping experience where the customer and the carefully selected products are king.

You'll definitely be surprised by the diverse range of brands. YOUR offers a mix of top labels and little-known brands, and all this within a whole range of prices and products: watches and jewelry, books, cosmetics, bikes, gadgets, shoes, bags, music, films, accessories, interior, art and clothes, ooh so many clothes!

This is only a small selection of brands you'll find: Vivienne Westwood Anglomania - Sessun - Dagmar - Twin Set - Maison Scotch - Goldsign - J-Brand - HTC - Levi's made & Crafted - Marc by Marc Jacobs - NdC made by hand - Pedro Garcia - Acne - Daniele Allesandrini - Essentiel Antwerp - Hope - Franklin & Marshall - Dior - Beats by Dr. Dre - Anonimo - George Nelson - Mödstrom - Ben Sherman - …

Kloosterstraat 90 - 2000 Antwerpen
T.: +32 3 33 77 110
@: hello@your-antwerp.com
Official website - Facebook Page

Moose in the city - A touch of Scandinavia

Moose in the city is concept store which offers you all the best things of Scandinavia.

The shop was opened in 2011 by Patrick Lathouwers and Jan Van Hoof.
The fashion brands you find, are a mix of old classic ones and some new discoveries: Filippa K, Nudie Jeans, Björn Borg, Minimum, Part Two, Tiger of Sweden, Karmameju, Kawasaki and a lot more.

They also have an interior corner where you'll find the colorful placemats by Marimekko, Rocking glasses by Norman and the beautiful accessories by HAY.

To complete the experience, the concept store sells Scandinavian fiction, non-fiction and travel literature. You'll find books about art, architecture, design but also films of for example Ingmar Bergman and Thomas Vinterberg.

The travel agency, NORTH & AWAY, loves to help you plan your trip to Norway, Denmark, Sweden, …

Ijzerenwaag 10-12 - 2000 Antwerpen
T.: +32 3 36 91 212
@: antwerpstore@moose-in-the-city.com
Official website - Facebook page

Coffee and vinyl

If you love coffee and music, like we both do, Coffee & vinyl is definitely something for you.
It is a coffee bar, music shop and art gallery in one. The owner Lars Coseman used to have a small vinyl shop in Antwerp but in 2011 he decided to start over and moved his collection to Vinyl & Coffee. You'll find a big offer of vinyl, singles and cd's next to some great coffee, fresh pastries, home made iced coffee and iced tea.