I'll make the obvious comment that it is surprising that this will be the first Netherlands store.

It shows that Apple is just getting started on their campaign to lift the spirits of the world.

Mid-February store opening, just in time for the new iPads? I really doubt the early-Feb release rumor from a few days ago, but I get my tax return on the 1st, so it's already burning a virtual hole in my pocket

Not a very good location - Leidseplein is plagued with drug dealers and other unsavoury people. Robberies and assaults are almost at the order of the day. Infamous for the "scootertuig". (scum on scooters) We were pick-pocketed there and the cops were not helpful. We had to make an appointment (!) for the next day at the cop station in order to report the crime. The b******s are so politically correct that we were not even supposed to mention which (unpopular) group of the population the thieves appeared to belong to.

Your information is spot on. Unfortunately most (all?) of Amsterdam qualifies in the same way.
Most criminal activity in Amsterdam is from Marokkanen. Thats a public secret, but we are 'multicultureel' and everybody is the same...
I'am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience in Amsterdam. As a Dutchmen I feel a bit ashamed about that.

J.

Sorry to hear that. The Netherlands has so much changed, and not for the better. Ashamed and disappointed.

I still love the Netherlands, been there in 2002 and 2008. Checked out Amsterdam, Hengelo, Enschede, passed by the Feyenoord stadium, hung out with my friend in the Gronigen area.

It is sad to see the non-integration of certain ethnic groups... But chin up, the Dutch still have a very functioning country relative to US and Europe and still have first-world country education, healthcare and facilities, so hang in there.

I didn't go to Amsterdam in 2008 so maybe things have changed a lot in the past 10 years.

Sorry to hear this, in 2002 I was, as most young tourists, mostly blitzed for the five days I was in Amsterdam, went to some dodgy clubs (straight and otherwise), checked out a variety of different ~pleins~ and perhaps luckily did not run into any issues.

I was going to make a joke about special THC-resistant coating for all Apple products sold in the Amsterdam store but it may not be so funny now.

Has Amsterdam really changed that much? I mean, it was always seen as a racy but still tourist-friendly, relatively safe (compared to say, San Francisco, Chicago, NYC) city, with crime and so on well-controlled due to legalisation of a variety of naughty stuff.

Not that much no, a bit racy, but still friendly. Also tourist friendly, with 4.5M annual visitors. It's a small country (Amsterdam itself has nearly 800.000 residents), making it a bit easier to manage than some larger ones.

Best.

PS You're welcome to make that joke; we're very liberal here!

Amsterdam isn't tourist friendly at all. It has the worst reputation when it comes down to Hotels and restaurants.
(This is actually a fact because several international surveys put Amsterdam at the top, that is the top of the most unpleasant and unfriendly behaviour, quality of service and 'rudeness'.) If Amsterdam was tourist friendly at all in the past, its a very long time ago.
So if you had a relative pleasant stay in Amsterdam you were somewhat lucky.
I know of people who drove through a Johannesburg township without a problem at the hight of the apartheidsregime in South Africa, so its always a matter of chance.
The statistics about robbery, car burglary, car theft, bike theft (and so on) pick pocketing (tasjes roof) and street violence and harassment, also indicate that Amsterdam has a long way to go before it can be called tourist friendly.

J.

Yeah, maybe I got lucky, maybe it was just because I was a ~23 year old in AMSTERDAM for the first time, had some savings because I had been working at my first job out of university, and managed to fly KLM direct from SFO to Schipol. w000000000t LOL

The hotel in Amsterdam was okay, only thing was the super-steep stairs, which was interesting. Again, various subtances, well, pot, may have coloured my hazy memories. But FWIW they were good memories. The cheesy stuff like the canals, to the intense stuff like Anne Frank house, to what I was really interested, the dance music scene (Dutch Trance still the best!). My colleague that travelled with me got a bit pissy after a few days but we still ended up decent friends and co-workers. Poffertjes(spelling?) and some good pannerkoeken(again, spelling?). Olie bolen(spelling? sorry no time to Google it) was possibly consumed during that trip or by someone in Melbourne, Australia who had a Dutch food stall. Went for some Iranian food too, then off to a club where around 11pm or 12am a few English dudes were asking me for ecstasy, of which I did not partake in at all during that period of my life. My Californian colleague, of course, took delight in lighting up his little pot pipe or something right in the club. Ah, the hedonism.

Now that I am older, of course I do question the legalisation of such things and the openness, but I have faith that the Dutch citizens will work it out, I leave it to them. I did not do anything illegal as such while visiting Amsterdam.

Also, there was a pleasant memory of getting up one morning and going for a jog (remember, I was in my early 20s... otherwise I have no idea how I did it after the late nights)... From the hotel and ended up at Museumplein. Somewhere along the way taking the tram back a lady started talking to me in Dutch, which happened several times, because I think I look Indonesian (former Dutch colony).

I also managed to visit a web design company that was headed by my Dutch friend's ex-colleague.

After a few days it was off to Enschede to visit my Dutch friend and stayed with her for a few days. I have a thing for tall blondes, but being just 5'7" it was always just good friends, and that's alright.

So maybe it's my rose-tinted glasses that I put on when I go to the Netherlands.

Some of it could be subliminal, growing up in Malaysia as a kid the only good milk products was Dutch Lady (from the apparently evil Friesland Campina):



To this day it has an impact on the Malaysian psyche, though they have changed the logo to a generic one and no longer has the milkmaid.

But I think Dutch Lady and a few other European milk products and Dutch/European(?) style coffee with condensed(?) milk influenced the practice to this day in Malaysia of drinking coffee and tea with a dash of condensed/evaporated milk, because even to this day fresh milk is not widely consumed, mainly canned condensed/evaporated milk, milk powder, or UHT milk.

Again, I leave it to the Dutch, I wish you the best and hope you can address whatever issues and challenges you are facing. I know the Islamic sub-society is of some concern and I share that concern, I've written at length many times here about Malaysia essentially becoming a Muslim state over the past two decades.

So yeah... headlines to look out for:

Apple Store Amsterdam:
Free apple-flavoured ganja with every purchase over EUR1,000. (Let me guess, you looked at the picture of the Concierges before reading this top line) During the opening, "Steve's Select" "bag of goodies" to be given to the first 100 visitors. A meticulously prepared bag simply labeled "iHigh" As mentioned, all Apple products come with THC-protective coating All iPhones come pre-loaded with maps of the red-light district (I would love this)Logic Pro Special Edition purchases installed for you with pre-selected exclusive loops, samples and patches from Armin Van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Sander Van Doorn, Sander Van Dien, Woody Van Eyden, Paul Van Dyk (Yes, he's actually German) and more. Genius bars have free plates of Poffertjes to quell even the most rancourous customers. And of course... Instead of water bottles in fridges under the Genius Bar counters like in the old days... the fridges are filled with... Heineken (never visited the factory though... I prefer Grolsch anyway) Oh and I found a picture of the Apple Store Concierges (they wear orange, don't they?)



And before I forget... Jenever. Straight, or in those cool little pre-mixed jenever-soda cans. Better than Stolichnaya or Jim Beam premixes... If it's vodka Give me Belvedere or Grey Goose, Skyy at worst ... straight. But yeah. Jenever. Nice stuff.

DISCLAIMER: IF YOU ARE YOUNG AND EASILY INFLUENCED
PLEASE BE INFORMED BEFORE PARTAKING IN DRUGS AND ALCOHOL...
PARTICULARLY WHEN EXPOSED TO TRANCE OR HOUSE MUSIC