HOLLAND RETAIL NEWS: May 2020
The coronavirus continued to dominate retail news in the Netherlands during May 2020, as stores slowly began reopening. Uniqlo announced second store opening.
CBS REPORTS CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN HURT SALES
The impact the coronavirus has had on retail sales in the Netherlands has been substantial. The Dutch national statistics bureau, CBS, reported that during the month of April, sales of non-food goods declined by nearly 16% compared to a year ago. The hardest hit categories were clothing (-58.5%), shoes/leather goods (-44.7%) and furniture/home decor (-8.2%) while personal care and sporting goods took smaller hits, down 3.7% and 3.6% respectively.
There were two bright spots in April which reflect the increased amount of time people were forced to spend in their homes due to the coronavirus lockdown… consumer electronics was up 11.8% year on year, while DIY/kitchens/flooring was up a staggering 25.6%.
In other news…
HEMA IN HAARLEM
Hema took two floors in the former V&D / Hudson’s Bay store in Haarlem for their HEMArkt outlet concept which offers clothing, tableware and toys at up to 60% discounts. The lease is temporary but Hema has said it would like to open a regular full-line store in the same space. The current Hema store located in the Haarlem city center would then become a Jumbo supermarket.
UNIQLO ADDING A STORE IN THE HAGUE
Japanese fast fashion retailer UNIQLO has announced its second store in the Netherlands will open this fall in The Hague city center, in the former Marks & Spencer retail space. The first Dutch UNIQLO store opened in Amsterdam in fall 2018.
Related information…