Albert Heijn retains leading position in the Netherlands, changing of the guard in Belgium
In the Netherlands, Albert Heijn remains the chain with the most shops (1,017), but with the opening of 10 new branches, Kruidvat has closed the gap slightly and now has 985 shops. The gap to number 3 in the list is large, as Jumbo follows in 3rd place with more than 300 fewer branches than Kruidvat. There have been two shifts in the top 10. Service Apotheek has been making great strides in recent years and added another 14 pharmacies to its chain last year. With 514 pharmacies, they have taken over 7th place from Etos this year. New to the top 10 is Plus, which has moved into 10th place following the conversion of the last Coöp branches last year.
The biggest climber in the Dutch Top 50 is Wibra, which opened 44 new stores last year, partly due to the acquisition of a number of former Blokker premises. This has seen Wibra rise from 34th to 27th place. RegioBank saw the largest decline in the Top 50, with the number of branches falling from 380 to 317 due to the conversion of branches to ASN. RegioBank thus dropped from 17th to 22nd place.
In terms of square metres of retail space, Albert Heijn remains the undisputed largest chain in the Netherlands with 1.4 million m², followed at a considerable distance by Jumbo with 900,000 m². Here too, Plus has gained a place, jumping over Intratuin to 6th place.
Belgium
In Belgium, the number of Crelan branches decreased by almost 100 last year, meaning that Crelan is no longer the largest chain in Belgium. Bpost, with a smaller decrease in the number of branches, is the new number 1 this year. Once again, there are four chains of banks and insurance offices in the top 10, but together they lost 138 branches last year. Some of these chains will therefore also drop out of the top 10 in the coming years.
In the top 50, the biggest climber is Daenens dienstencheque, which entered the top 50 in 35th place. Last year, Daenens merged its seven subsidiaries under one common name, which explains this strong growth.
Supermarket chains dominate the top 10 in terms of retail space. In 2024, Colruyt managed to take over the number 1 position from Aldi. This year, they have managed to maintain their leading position and the difference has become even greater. The Dutch number 1, Albert Heijn, is also in the Belgian top 50, but in 19th place.
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