4 Shops in Amsterdam with wheelchair-friendly fitting rooms

Josephine Rees
19th February 2019
Short Lists
0 Comments

3 min read

Amsterdam has a bustling shopping scene, with retail hot spots like the Kalverstraat, the Negenstraatjes, the P.C. Hoofdstraat and the Haarlemmerdijk. While there are plenty of clothing shops in Amsterdam, accessible fitting rooms are shockingly hard to come by. Countless times I’ve browsed clothing racks, picked out some cute outfits and excitedly rolled on up to the fitting rooms, only to discover there’s no accessible cubicle in sight.

Thankfully, Amsterdam has a number of shops with spacious fitting rooms. They aren’t all perfect, but they are certainly on the right track.

Here are 4 shops in Amsterdam with wheelchair-friendly fitting rooms:

Nike

The positives

Located on the Kalverstraat, Nike has a well-lit, spacious changing room on one of the top floors. The mirror is low enough for wheelchair users, as are (half) the clothing hooks.

Room for improvement

While this fitting room looks snazzy, it’s a little less practical. There are no grab rails on the wall for extra support and the fitting room chair has no arm rests. As someone with reduced mobility, I found the chair’s low height quite challenging.

The height of the mirror and hooks is great, but if you’re trying on a flashy new Nike track suit you’ve got a view of the hooks. Even if the chair is moved in front of the mirror, the lack of grab rails makes sitting down a tricky task.

& Other Stories

The positives

Amsterdam’s & Other Stories has a lovely spacious changing room with mirrors showing your every angle. It’s got a long high seat and plenty of low hooks.

Room for improvement

As with Nike, the fitting room at & Other Stories is missing grab rails. Depending on a customer’s level of mobility, this lack of support could make seat transfers challenging.

Top Shop

The positives

Top Shop‘s Kalverstraat shop has a spacious fitting room with a comfortable chair, low hooks, tall mirrors and grab rails.

Room for improvement

The only thing missing from this accessible set up is a vertical grab rail on the adjacent wall. This would provide extra support for customers getting up from the chair. The emergency cord is great, but at this rate the only emergency it’ll help with is if a wheelchair user suddenly managed to fly. It needs to be lower down within reach during a fall.

TK Maxx

The positives

The accessible fitting room at TK Maxx at the Amsterdamse Poort is superb, with plenty of space and a sturdy built-in seat. It has horizontal and vertical grab rails and numerous low hooks.

Room for improvement

In my opinion, the only potential improvement would be to include an emergency cord along the wall.

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Tags: city centre, review, shopping

Josephine Rees

My name is Josephine Rees (1993) and I am Dutch-British. I was raised in Tokyo and Moscow and moved to The Netherlands to study Anthropology & Human Geography in 2012. After briefly living in Thailand and Cambodia, I am now based in Amsterdam. I love exploring this beautiful city and hope to help others by sharing exciting accessibility tips.