Amsterdam's most distinctive purchases are clustered around a few specific things. P.G.C. Hajenius on Rokin is the grandest cigar shop in the city — worth entering even if you don't smoke, for the Art Deco interior alone. The diamond workshops around the Rijksmuseum and Rembrandtplein offer free factory tours where you can watch cutting and polishing, no purchase required.
For Delftware and traditional Dutch souvenirs, the shops along Kalverstraat and near Dam Square range from tourist-grade to genuine hand-painted pieces — Delft Blue is distinctive enough that the difference is usually obvious. Stroopwafels, jenever (Dutch gin), and salted herring make good food souvenirs.
Maison de Bonneterie at Rokin 140–142 is the city's most elegant department store — a 19th-century building with wooden galleries and a gorgeous period lift — for clothes and lifestyle goods on the higher end.