Many customers at ice skating shops due to expected freezing temperatures

Skating shops are handling more crowds than normal as a result of predictions freezing cold. Some people brought their old skates in to be sharpened, while others are choosing to buy new speed skates, figure skates and ice hockey skates, according to ANP, whose reporters contacted several shops around the Netherlands.

Waterman Sport in Amsterdam was already very busy on Saturday morning. The hustle and bustle actually started on Thursday, said store manager Willem-Jan Draper. "People are coming with skates that were acquired somewhere else, and which need to be repaired or sharpened, but there are also customers who are interested in a new pair."

Waterman Sport has taken action to manage the crowds, Draper said. This means the store will be open for longer hours, and more workers will staff the location.

Maikel Been, an employee at PerfectSkate in Groningen, succinctly said it is "extremely busy" in the store. "Customers are mainly coming to have their skates sharpened. In terms of sales, it is more than the previous weeks, but not a huge increase."

he skating and inline skating shop in Groningen is located in the Kardinge sports center, where indoor skating is possible. It is also busier there, according to Been. "You notice that many people want to skate indoors for a while before they go onto the natural ice."

Workers in Enschede also noticed that an ice rink there is "fairly busy." But according to Eelko Blankenstein, manager of IJsbaan Twente and owner of the adjacent skating shop Hyro Sports, this is not necessarily different from other winter school holiday periods.

"Skating is alive and well, but whether that is because of the Christmas holidays or because natural ice has been predicted, I don't know." It is not necessarily busier in the store, he said. "We are always a bit down-to-earth in the East," concluded Blankenstein, who also does not expect things to "take off" anytime soon.

In the province of Friesland, where skating is a pastime, Haico Bouma from the eponymous Haico Bouma Thialf in Heerenveen noticed that it is busier than normal, but said it was not yet a madhouse. The Frisians are also down-to-earth, he stated.

"Here, skating is only really considered when it is actually possible. Although you do notice that people are becoming a bit more excitable and are somewhat tense." But when the time comes, there will be big crowds, Bouma predicted.