Big crowds at Intratuin and IKEA on Boxing Day

Garden stores and home furnishing stores such as Intratuin and IKEA attracted many shoppers on Boxing Day as usual. It was not busy everywhere, but bargain hunters lined up en masse on Monday morning at the Intratuin in Duiven because of their sale of Christmas items. At the IKEA in Amsterdam there were still long queues at the cash registers at the end of the afternoon.

Manager Gerard Niesink from the Intratuin in Duiven explained that his store usually attracts a lot of people on December 26. That's when the annual Christmas sale starts at the garden center. "Last two years we were only closed because of coronavirus. But now it's possible again. It was certainly just as busy as before coronavirus."

He said he thinks thousands of people visited the store on Monday. "The people who queue up so early often know exactly what they want," said Niesink.

In the IKEA in Amsterdam it was still quite busy as the sun began to set. According to an ANP reporter at the location, there were mainly many families and couples who wanted to look at new furniture or find new inspiration. However, the queues at the checkout were not just a result of the crowds, but it was also because not all cash registers were open. The Swedish retailer announced several months ago that staff shortages forced it to close its stores in the Netherlands earlier.

The scene was very different at the Praxis nearby. It was very quiet there on Sunday afternoon. Only a handful of people walked around the aisles of the hardware store. "And this is actually the busiest time of the day," said one employee. Easter Monday is when the crowds really fill the store, he also noted.

The situation was also hit-or-miss elsewhere. For example, AD reported that it was very busy in the Westfield Mall of the Netherlands in Leidschendam. At the Maxis shopping center near Muiden, Monday afternoon seemed more like a quiet Sunday afternoon.

Figures from the Dutch payment processor association Betaalvereniging Nederland have already shown that people are still willing to take out their wallets this time of year, despite the high inflation. It found that more debit card payments were made on the country’s high streets on Friday than ever before.

All told, the organization counted more than 22 million debit card payments that day, worth roughly 740 million euros. Figures from Openingstijden.nl also showed that more supermarkets were open this Christmas than in previous years. On Monday, about 90 percent of all supermarkets kept their doors open.