Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

No need to insult people for having a differant opinion turdhead, I rarely go into the real touristy coffeeshops anyway so I dont have too worry about that but I haven't got a problem with supporting a coffeeshop stay in business by making a purchase of a drink and some cannabis.

When I'm in Amsterdam I'm with my wife she doesn't smoke and she's never been asked to buy anything, like its already been said I suspect your attitude is part of the problem.

there are bad cs that have that rule and good ones.
you wont tell me, just because Mellow Yellow has a sign at the dealers place "Min. buy 1g" it is a bad shop will you? because if you say so, this discussion ends here, because it is ridiculous.
same goes for blues brothers, I know it is a tourist-shop, but to be honest, I liked it very very much and if you go in with the RIGHT ATTITUDE, they will be friendly as hell! There were two guys when we visited and both recommended us what they liked, what they didnt like, which weed had which effect and so on....you know why this is?
Because it depends! it depends what mood the dealer is in, how many dump tourists came in to fuck him off this day and so on and so on....
the 1g rule in the GOOD shops is only for people who come in to say "hey can I buy weed for 3,5€?", we have NEVER EVER been bothered at mellow yellow. our group came in, some of us bought, some others didnt. last time we were, our friends were there earlier, not even half of them bought weed there and when we came in and sat down to them, no staff-member came around to fuck us. after 15minutes we stood up and bought weed for around 100€.....same with blues brothers, we entered there with a group of 8 or something, and only me+girl and another 2 friends bought something there, all of us sad down, no one complained

For starters, i am not here to insult people, so don't take any offence with things I say.

When I enter, I have not attitude problem, am there to get a drink and more than likely some bud, ill ask to look at a few if they take my fancy, taking a sniff to ensure they have nice smelly buds.

Always wait my turn, say Hi, please and thanks.

It is the way in which the BUDtenders are with people.

I know people say they having a bad day etc...
They are paid to do a job in the public sector, dealing with customers in a polite fashion.

I avoid certain places as I prefer the less touristy like some of you.

I would rather spend 20euro on 2 differnt strains, than buy a bag of, what is meant to be 2.5g.

I like variety, i like chat, i like converse and ask about the different weeds with the tenders as long as a big queue ain't behind me.
Not all the time, but i like to converse because am in a good mood, and trying to enjoy a holiday.

there was about 4 places i did not enjoy last time.
The rest all good.
So don't think am trying to make a shit list and throw a load of coffeeshops on that list.

This list is for specific people.
Who do not enjoy the 20euro min buy.
or experience problems enforcing there weed upon you.
I do buy in MOST places, its the WAY in which some places shove the menu at you before you've managed to say
"Hello, can i have a tea please?"

This is meant to be a selective list, but has turned in to a back n forth conversation.

More experiences like this are welcome, happy to read on. thanks

for me the there are a lot of think to say:

- Amsterdam is the "mecca" of smoker and so the Budtenders see a lot of people every day, especially in Ams.
- A Cs is same every other kind of shop, the seller must be nice because he want to seel you something (do you enter in a shop to buy a shirt or pants and the seller is not nice? never)
- They know that if you enter you want to buy and this think make their work easier and they can be less nice without problem with budget

For me the best are the CS without a min. buy, where I can try a joint of a new strain without buying a min. of 1g., when I come to holland I want to try and if I can try in on CS 3-4 strain buying 0.5g of each is perfect, than I choose my favourite and rebuy 2-5 g. of this.

the old church lost my custom when in april 7of us walked in & 4of us bought smoke &drinks instantly &before the rest even got to the counter to order they were told that they would have to leave if they each didnt also buy smoke aswell as drinks,which they were about to do anyway, saying that though if the christian right wingers in power get there way, then in 10years time there will probably be no cs's left & we will all be saying 'was that minimum buy rule really that bad'

ok, I told you this several times, but it seems some people dont read the thread before answering.
I didnt want to say something like this EVER, because I hate people who do so, so please take no offense here:
You are not as close to the netherlands as we are, so we are a bit more "into the scene" if you want to say so, and we have talked to many different people, from the top to the usual dealer.
MANY, and I mean MANY, people (its not such a big difference between the dutch and the tourists) come to coffeeshops and FUCK the dealers. you cant imagine what things I have seen....its ridiculous. I can 100% understand why they sometimes are the way they are, you cannot compare it to a usual job as seller, because in a clothes-shop nobody would fuck with you to get a better price or anything else.
I mean this sentence by 100%:
You dont know what it means to be a dealer in a shop...no offense, but you just dont know.

STILL I think dealers should keep their patience, I just wanted to tell you, you can not compare it to a usual seller-job, because its a big difference

Those lists of shops which are "bad" are a bad idea in my opinion, because it is a matter of taste and of luck what you think about a shop. E.g. for me Blues brothers is a great shop, BUT you have to be carefull with those tourist-shops, because they have to carry a lot of weed, so they dont concentrate on quality 100%, but you can find some nice buds in them as well

One "bad" shop for me was Bushdoctors, you have to buy 20€ minimum, which would be ok if their weed was good, but the "Strawberry" we got there a year ago was one of the biggest rip offs I got for 10€/g so far.
Still many people give good reviews about their hash.....you see the point we are getting at? this list isnt going to help anyone in my opinion. write down your report in the specific shop-thread, that should be enough

Bushdoctors is a 2 gram minimum buy with prices starting at €15 not €20 sh@dy.

I haven't been in ages but the Blue Ice velvet was one of my favourites for a while.

sh@dy wrote:so a minimum buy makes a shop a bad shop?
Sorry, but this is bullshit
The Blues Brothers is a great shop,you have to think about WHERE they are located,they get so many dump customers that the dealer sometimes is fucked up. their weed is good, they got some very nice things on their menu.
One of the oldest and best shops in town, Mellow Yellow, has a sign saying "Minimum buy 1g"....what is bad about that? it is their busines. What counts is, that the quality is good and they dont try to rip you off....

Ive not been there before & my worst worry was being "stung" with a bag of stems/seeds & leaves mix,Especialy if its like a 20 euro minimum .

I personally find that info on Bush Dr helpful.

I am not just talking bad attitude or abit rude, but

preventing my mate from going up the stairs to take a seat, even though i and another had just purchased a drink and sadly a min buy.

I am happy to buy if i like something i see.
But the feeling of having bud forced on you, i don't like.
Must buy now to move further into the shop feeling.

Am not sure about you, but i and others from reading have had these experiences. Very few which is great. I just dont buy the first thing the dealer shows me.


This list was not designed to slate c/s in such. as the reviews do this.

Just to filter out the min. buys / with good or negative comments.
and people have that have experience of staff not allowing them to smoke there own. Although i have never been told i must buy there buds ever.

As Katsu is a Min buy play i have purchase from several times but never actually stayed to get a drink, has always been busy. Good Black Widow though i got.

the happy hacker wrote:

Boner wrote:Aye go into a cafe and order a drink then pull out a sandwich bought from elsewhere and see what happens.

Spot on...........

Yea but you cant buy weed in every place you visit! beleive me ive tried!!!,Ive been in bluebird for example & ive had the fuck off attitude cos i didnt buy weed,In fact on that occasion i bought 2 loozas & drank 1 on the spot + sat down with the other "DOWNSTAIRS" out the way of everyone & this still wasnt good enough for these people! & yea they took my tip in case you were wondering,My feet were all blisters that day & i only had about 12 hours sleep in 5 days ,Anyways i could have bought a gram with the money + sneaked in a tropical drink bought from albert heijn & then simply drank it behind the glass partition when there backs were turned! but no,As it happens i wanted to drink & sit right then not smoke,Ps that dealer guy who looks like alice cooper has a nice attitude i must say! but like someone else says recently thats another story.

Boner wrote:Aye go into a cafe and order a drink then pull out a sandwich bought from elsewhere and see what happens.

Dosn't mean its right, a coffeeshop is place to smoke so it dosnt have to be smoked on the streets, a cafe is different imo because it is there to serve food, rather than a little slice of freedom as coffeeshops do. I personally think a coffeeshop and cafe/bar are a little different, i do however always buy a drink because you have to make it worth your while for being in there, however i draw the line at being told i need to buy weed.

Tbh dealers in coffeeshops are in the customer service role, they are there to help us, not give us shit. I havent met many shitty ones, but i dont buy this you dont know what its like to be a dealer in a coffeeshop stuff. In my job i deal with shitty kids, then come parents evening i have to be polite to the parents, i cant be a complete wanker to them or id get the sack. If i said to the parents you dont know what its like id get to suck it up, rightly so.

This whole you must buy weed is just another way to con money out of people, i can see the logic in buying drinks whenever you go in, but not buying weed every time, thats absurd.

i know what shady is saying

but i agree with turdhead, some of these people who work in coffeeshops, can be real "pieces of work"

think they are special and talk to you s if you dont have a clue what good weed is LOL

although that job will definately get annoying at times, they shouldnt treat people like shit because they are "stupid tourists"

The wife and I first travelled to Amsterdam around 1995 or so and I remember our learning curve - coming from the states we were walking into coffee shops like they were carnival rides...bouncing off the walls and talking a mile a minute to the budtenders. The best lesson came when we stepped into the Old Man to purchase a bong for our stay: I walked up to the proprietor and exclaimed "I'll take THAT one" only to be met with a blank stare and "Good morning". I paused, smiled and replied "Good Morning!". "How may I help you?". "I'll take THAT one please!".

We took that lesson with us and, for the most part, have had only stellar experiences with the various coffeeshops both in the city center as well as outside. Dutch, British and Moroccan budtenders - young, old, male, female. We HAVE noticed burn out in some budtenders - Barney's comes to mind. They're almost brain-dead, wandering around like zombies. I chock that up to an over saturation of tourists. Like Sh@dy said, these guys put up with MORE bullshit than anyone could possibly imagine. That being said, there is NO excuse for a budtender who DOESN'T give the customer a chance. If you act like a dick, ok - but if you DON'T and you're not getting the chance...well, that's another story.

In the early days, we frequented QUITE alot of the the tourist-trap shops (Paradise, of all places - our FIRST stop EVER) including the fore mentioned Paradise, La Canna, Bulldog, Pick Up the Pieces, Grasshopper (some good Orange Bud back in the '90's actually) and the like and saw them deteriorate before our very eyes catering to teenaged tourists with a grab and go attitude. We quickly learned to simply avoid them.

Never been to Blues Brothers (like it was said, passed by it but it held no appeal from the outside) but hit Bushdoctor EVERY trip. The Italian budtenders are the balls and we ALWAYS wind up chatting up a storm. Being a hasj head, they're HEAVEN (never picked up bud tho') and whether it's sitting outside on a sunny day or upstairs during a stormy night they can't be beat.

So for me, give the shops a second chance - Dutch Flowers, Softland and many others started off intimidating (let alone Betty Boop who's budtender we've become good friends with and correspond with back home) and become favorites. Richie at Hill Street on the Markt started off quite gruff but became our favorite (and regular) budtender of a couple of trips ago - even recognizing us on the street away from the shop and saying "hi"!

Keep up a good attitude and, if the moment is right, give a shop a second chance!

-HD

i enjoyed Softland

Staff very very helpful.

Comfy, cant remember much else

sh@dy wrote:I can 100% understand why they sometimes are the way they are, you cannot compare it to a usual job as seller, because in a clothes-shop nobody would fuck with you to get a better price or anything else.

i have 2disagree, iv'e worked in the garage trade for many years, & EVERY day you get people taking the piss, you wouldn't believe some tricks iv'e seen people try & pull to get out of paying their bill (including violence). that doesn't mean we treat customers like absolute shit. the only reason cs's can get away with it is because the existing shops have a monopoly on selling smoke, no new licenses & shops closing down every year & not being allowed to reopen. Also i think everyone on this forum who doesn't buy from a cs 100% understands the dangers that come with selling a prohibited item. At least a cs has the protection of the police, which im fairly certain no-one else in the world who sells marijana gets.
i personally dont have a problem with a minimum buy rule, but i dont see why staff in cs's have to act like they are superior 2other people.
you definatly do know more about how the cs's work than most people on here, but im sorry, theres no excuse for rudeness.