Five times a top five. I looked for sectors that are popular in the month of December: perfumes, toys, liquor and wine stores and in the fashion business, women’s fashion. What are the biggest stores in the Netherlands and Belgium? What is striking?
It seemed like a good idea. Nice, all Top 5 lists with various stores. But practically, that’s not how it works. In some sectors, some retail chains are clearly dominant.
| Top 5 Perfumery Netherlands (r.s.) | Top 5 Perfumery Belgium (r.s.) | ||||
| 1 | Douglas | 729 m² | 1 | Ici Paris XL | 433 m² |
| 2 | Douglas | 677 m² | 2 | Ici Paris XL | 430 m² |
| 3 | Douglas | 615 m² | 3 | Ici Paris XL | 404 m² |
| 4 | Douglas | 615 m² | 4 | Ici Paris XL | 380 m² |
| 5 | Douglas | 578 m² | 5 | Ici Paris XL | 380 m² |
In the Netherlands, stores are significantly larger than in Belgium. The average surface for a perfumery in the Netherlands is 124 m2 of r.s. and in Belgium 89 m2 of r.s.
| Top 5 Toys Netherlands (r.s.) | Top 5 Toys (r.s.) | ||||
| 1 | Toys XL | 2.066 m² | 1 | Happyland | 6.500 m² |
| 2 | Toys XL | 2.000 m² | 2 | Happyland | 3.750 m² |
| 3 | Toys XL | 1.968 m² | 3 | Happyland | 3.600 m² |
| 4 | Toys XL | 1.650 m² | 4 | Happyland | 3.000 m² |
| 5 | Toys XL | 1.646 m² | 5 | Paradiso | 2.900 m² |
In the Top 5 for the toy industry, stores are clearly larger in Belgium with an average surface that’s twice the average in the Netherlands. If we look at all the toy shops in the country, the Netherlands has an average area of 254 m2 of r.s compared to 420 m2 in Belgium.
For alcoholic beverages, I looked at two very closely related sectors.
| Top 5 liquor stores Netherlands (r.s.) | Top 5 liquor stores Belgium (r.s.) | ||||
| 1 | Berendsen | 680 m² | 1 | Opstael & Zoon | 1.500 m² |
| 2 | Ruck Zuck | 670 m² | 2 | Drinxit | 1.500 m² |
| 3 | Jelfra De Toren | 431 m² | 3 | De Vidts NV | 1.500 m² |
| 4 | Burg Bieren | 400 m² | 4 | Drankcenter Schotte | 1.421 m² |
| 5 | Drankgigant | 400 m² | 5 | Drink Vanuxeem | 1.400 m² |
| Top 5 Wine shops Netherlands (r.s.) | Top 5 Wine shops Belgium (r.s.) | ||||
| 1 | De Gouden Leeuw | 493 m² | 1 | A fine wine | 753 m² |
| 2 | De Wijnhal | 475 m² | 2 | Sacacorchos | 615 m² |
| 3 | Wijnkoperij Hosman Frères | 459 m² | 3 | Savour Club | 600 m² |
| 4 | De wijnzaak | 450 m² | 4 | Crombé | 500 m² |
| 5 | Van den Bos | 427 m² | 5 | Entrepot du vin / TasteVin | 500 m² 500 m² |
In both countries, independent businesses are in the Top 5 for the wine sector. The proportion of retail chain for the wine retail sector in the Netherlands and in Belgium is low, 11% and 2% respectively. For the liquor sector the situation is very different. In the Netherlands it is 70% and in Belgium only 14%. This is partly due to the difference in terms of liquor sales policy in supermarkets. In the Netherlands, there are many liquor stores next to the supermarket and belonging to the same supermarket chain, e.g. the C1000 and the Coop liquor stores.
And finally the women’s fashion sector.
In order not to compare apples to oranges, I chose the Women’s Fashion sector. Of course there are larger stores if we include ladies & men’s fashion (e.g. Aro in Oene with 4600 m2) or department stores (e.g. Van Tilburg in Nistelrode with 9500 m2). But again, it’s nice to see that when you look at women’s fashion only, we again find unexpected entries in the Top 5.
| Top 5 Women’s fashion Nederlands (r.s.) | Top 5 Women’s fashion Belgium (r.s.) | ||||
| 1 | Mango | 1.990 m² (Maastricht) |
1 | & Other stories | 3.500 m² (Elsene) |
| 2 | Berden | 1.900 m² (Sittard) |
2 | Wellens Women | 1.600 m² (Herentals) |
| 3 | Rinsma | 1.547 m² (Gorredijk) |
3 | Seven Rooms | 1.500 m² (Antwerp) |
| 4 | TerHorst van Geel | 1.100 m² (Oss) |
4 | Princess | 1.470 m² (Antwerp) |
| 5 | Mango | 1.092 m² (Eindhoven) |
5 | Mango | 1.280 m² (Ghent) |
Again, there are many independent businesses. When observing the fashion sector in general, you will see that the share of retail chains is quite higher. In a future blog I will take an even closer look at the entire fashion industry and go into a little more detail.
