Posted by Marianne on 10/11/2011, 7:56 am
One fine November day, 130 years ago, mr. W.J. van Hoogstraten opened a special bookshop at Noordeinde 98 in Royal Residence The Hague.
The bookshop has since seen a growing number of loyal & lifelong clients, who, in their turn took along fellow booklovers & family to enjoy the vast amount of books and the friendly atmosphere in the shop.
Over the years owners & staff at Van Hoogstraten have earned themselves a solid reputation and it clearly shows that Mrs. Bakker, her daughter and àll staff are dedicated booklovers themselves and always do their utmost to help & advice their clients.
Ever since I was a schoolgirl I have been visiting the shop frequently (my maternal grandfather's shop was on the same street but further 'down the road' and thus I must have visited nr. 98 when I was much smaller with my bookloving grandparents, but sadly I have no memories of those early childhood visits...)
Over the years I have taken along my own children and plenty foreign friends (Danish, Norwegian, UK and USA based friends etc) to Van Hoogstraten and there was always time for a chat & discussions about 'soon-to-be-published-royal-books' + some useful advice when in doubt what to buy now (and what to be send home later on 
) and never did we leave empty-handed!!
It would be nice if we all could share some thoughts here, or tell which books we bought there and which we still treasure, to make this a special thread dedicated to a unique shop, which I'm sure many of us would like to have in our own home-town/right around the corner of our street ourselves ..... if only for the always friendly welcome 
Congratulations to àll lovely people at Van Hoogstraten, happy celebrations and may we all enjoy your expertise & friendship and plenty great books for many decades to come !!
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