More physical stores in the Netherlands, second increase since 2010

THE HAGUE (ANP) – The number of physical stores in the Netherlands has increased in a year, reports the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). On January 1, there were more than 83,000 physical stores in the Netherlands, 1,100 more than at the beginning of last year. This is the second time since 2010 that brick-and-mortar stores have been added at the bottom.

More stores may have opened their doors recently because the corona pandemic is over and consumers are going out more often for their purchases. This creates confidence among entrepreneurs, a CBS spokeswoman suspects.

The number of DIY stores rose the fastest with 310 stores. Relatively speaking, the most bookstores were added, almost 13 percent in one year. At the beginning of this year, the Netherlands had 660 bookstores. In 2021, when more brick-and-mortar stores were added, the number of bookstores fell the most of all types of stores.

Tobacco products

There were about 6 percent more shops selling tobacco products, bringing the number of shops in January to just under 1,400, CBS reports. According to the spokeswoman, retailers are opening stores with tobacco products because supermarkets are no longer allowed to sell those products from July 1 this year. The number of supermarkets grew by 2.4 percent, to just under 6,700.

According to Statistics Netherlands, the fact that more shops have been added is noticeable in two out of three municipalities. The number of cases grew by 20 percent, especially in the North Holland village of Oostzaan. Relatively many shops also opened in Zoeterwoude in South Holland and on Terschelling.

More online stores

Flower shops, pet shops and garden centers most often disappeared from the street scene. Sales points for sound and video equipment or white goods such as washing machines were the most likely to disappear last year, with declines of up to 3.3 percent. These decreases were a lot less than in the previous year, according to the statistics office.

Statistics Netherlands also says that the number of online shops has increased again last year. At the beginning of this year, the Netherlands had more than 95,000 online stores. That was a lot less a year earlier, about 84,100. It was the first time that there were more online stores than physical stores.