A decade after Dutch department store V&D’s bankruptcy, stores divided among tenants

Nearly ten years after the bankruptcy of V&D, once one of the Netherlands’ largest department store chains, almost every former store has been split among multiple tenants, according to BNR’s analysis of Locatus data.

One-fifth of the total floor space is either vacant or being demolished for new construction. Only the former V&D in Oosterhout is still occupied almost entirely by a single retailer, H&M.

“Right now there is almost no V&D building that has been fully taken over by a single new tenant. Most have been divided into multiple units,” said Gertjan Slob, director of Locatus.

V&D collapsed on December 31, 2015, ending 128 years of operations and leaving 63 buildings with 353,468 square meters of retail space, most with four floors. Filling entire buildings proved difficult, so major chains leased ground floors or partial areas.

Fifteen percent of all former V&D retail area has been demolished, and 6 percent remains vacant. H&M also operates in six other former V&D sites.

Grocery chain Jumbo, which acquired café brand La Place as part of V&D's bankruptcy, maintains space in four former V&D locations. Clothing retailers C&A and Zara, and grocery firms Albert Heijn and Dirk, are present in several others.

The amount of unused space is not unusual, said Jeroen Lokerse of Colliers. “I think there was more unused floor space in the V&D era than there is now,” he said.

Upper floors in former V&D locations were converted into offices or housing in many cases. In Hoorn, they have been turned into loft studios and penthouses, while in Den Helder the top floor of the former department store now contains social housing.