Great place for souvenirs in Amsterdam?

You won't have any problems finding them. Kalverstraat is your best bet, not so much Negen Straatjes as it's mostly upscale boutiques. I also recall the merchants at the flower market selling them.

Was in Amsterdam last month and when walking around the downtown area, I saw many places selling those magnets and a couple of stores specializing in just magnets. My refrigerator is full of magnets from my 12 years of travel in Europe.

Downtown? Is that the Dam Square area and such?

Dam Square is very central, a hub for transportation and other tourist services, and the start of Kalverstraat.

There must be around a dozen souvenir shops on the Damrak, the wide boulevard that leads to Dam Square. I take a walk down Damrak each time I'm in Amsterdam - you can get all your souvenirs in one area. If you don't like the offerings of one store, go down the street to the next one.

Thanks everyone.

This is another question, but if I'm shopping, where do I lock up my bike?

On Google Maps, I see tons of bikes not secured. It's obviously not safe, but what's really the risk if someone is going to be popping in and out of shops?

Trust me those bikes you see on Google are locked, even if it's just a cable through the two wheels. Stolen bicycles are a big problem in the city, don't' leave a bike unsecured.

Did you see the picture of Rick in his Amsterdam book, from the time he only secured one part of the bike, and the unsecured part was stolen? Unless you don't mind losing your bike, lock it up. If it's unlocked, it can be taken in an instant, and probably will be.

My brother and I were recently in Amsterdam on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Every time I stopped to look at the map, my brother noticed a bike being stolen. Really, it was remarkable. The usual MO seemed to be someone would roll up on an old beater and roll away on a newer nicer model. There were never any police in sight at these times or we would have certainly called attention to it. The thieves were quite brazen. We also noted a disabled man in an electric wheelchair working to distract the people by speeding and zigzagging down a packed sidewalk as someone else worked their way down thru the bike racks. We could not tell what the guy at the bikes was doing but he had some sort of small tool in his hand. They were in front of us for several blocks so we noted them walking together then working the sidewalk/racks together then they finally turned down a side street together.

Where do you lock it if there is no fenced around a canal near you?