I photographed this empty store/building at the Korte Hoogstraat. A few days ago this was a Hudson Bay department store (in Dutch warenhuis). Exactly two years after Hudson’s Bay the first Dutch store opened, the Canadian department store started to leave the Netherlands. All fifteen branches and the web store are closed on 31 December 2020. Hudson’s Bay opened ten stores in the Netherlands in September 2017. Five more branches followed later. From the outset, the Dutch branches had to contend with disappointing sales figures. Exactly how the stores performed, the chain never disclosed. Reportedly, last year it involved a loss of 80 million euros!
In this store/building another department store chain had to close, Vroom & Dreesmann. Almost same story but this chain opened in 1887 and closed in 2015. More and more socalled “brick shops” are closing their doors, blaming the internet etc. I don’t know if that is the only reason or one of the reasons but it is not nice to see how shopping streets show empty stores or become one-sided in terms of choice.