This is a large Albert Heijn location in Amsterdam, located on Van Baerlestraat in the Museumplein…read moredistrict. It is in an ideal location for tourists looking to grab a cold drink or stock up on essentials, while in the city, especially due to its location being very close to public transport links, and museums.
It is located in a basement but you can get a decent mobile phone signal inside, even after heading down the escalator.
For tourists, Albert Heijin is the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands, it's pretty much a brand you can't hide from and it seems they have stores everywhere you look with almost 1000 stores in the Netherlands.
Unlike some AH stores, they do accept foreign Mastercard and Visa cards here, which seems to have changed in the past couple of years, as some older reviewers did state this wasn't possible.
This specific location is pretty large and carries two main benefits over the AH To Go stores dotted around the city:
- Product Selection (Larger store, so has many more products including the freshly squeezed orange machine, which was turned on and functioning)
- Price (Reasonably cheaper compared to AH To Go stores, meaning you can save some money here compared to their stores nearby, in general I noticed prices were slightly more than back home, but prices were good compared to other stores I visited in the Netherlands)
Most of the checkouts here are self-service, but there are a couple of manned checkouts. The self-checkouts were reasonably easy to use, with an English language option, and a staff member on hand to help. I did experience an issue where I required a staff member's approval for my product, I did only purchase a bottle of freshly squeezed orange juice, so I'm not sure if they offer random checks or if it was some sort of verification.
You will also need to save your receipt, or request a short barcode to leave the store, so make sure to take it with you!
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