Last Coop store set to close as brand fades into Plus merger
Supermarket chain Coop, once a familiar name across the Netherlands with over 300 stores, will vanish entirely from the Dutch retail landscape by the end of this month. The final remaining Coop store is set to close its doors, marking the end of a brand that for some customers and shopkeepers “felt like family,” according to NOS.
The brand’s disappearance follows its full absorption by Plus, which began after the 2021 merger between Coop and Plus. Since then, hundreds of Coop branches have been rebranded as Plus stores, while dozens of smaller locations were sold off to retailers like Spar, Van Tol, and the Boon Food Group.
In 2019, Coop had still been on an expansion path. After acquiring a portion of Emté supermarkets, then-CFO Herco Boer said proudly, “We’ve put Coop more firmly on the map.” But within a few years, the chain was taken over.
Jan Obe Hobma, who has run the Coop in Sint Jansklooster, Overijssel, for 17.5 years, will be the one to close out the brand. “I’ll be the one turning off the lights at the end of the month,” he told NOS. “Does it hit me emotionally that the brand is disappearing? Coop felt like family, for sure. I’ll be joining the Boon family soon. Hopefully that feels good too. As for the customers — they’re just glad a supermarket is staying. We’re the only one in this village.”
Pieter Steenbergen, author of a book on 150 years of Coop, believes many customers won’t feel much of a loss. “Coop had only about 4 percent market share. It became harder and harder to compete on price with the big players like Aldi and Albert Heijn. That was always going to be a tough story,” he told NOS.
Nine supermarket chains have disappeared from the Dutch market since 2000 — including C1000, Deen, Edah, Super de Boer, Emté, Jan Linders, and Konmar. Whether more consolidation is coming remains uncertain.
Retail expert Erik Hemmes points to smaller, family-owned chains as potential acquisition targets: Dekamarkt, Vomar, Hoogvliet, Nettorama, and Poiesz. But he doesn’t expect a wave of takeovers. “That said, you could imagine, for example, Nettorama and Dirk van den Broek merging quite easily,” he told NOS.
Foreign companies might enter the picture. “There’s been talk for years that Belgian chain Colruyt is eyeing the Dutch market,” Hemmes added. “And who knows — maybe online grocer Picnic will eventually decide to open physical stores. These could all be new developments.”
Despite the shrinking number of chains, Dutch consumers still have options, said Ilse van Velden of market research firm YouGov (formerly GfK). “There are still enough different supermarket formats. In most areas, you have plenty of choice and competition — though it doesn’t always feel that way. I live in a fairly small town and we have six different supermarkets. So I can choose between discounters and service-oriented stores,” van Velden told NOS.
Van Velden added that takeovers don’t necessarily lower prices. “Prices are rising, personnel costs are rising. What matters most to consumers is that the local store remains — that the entrepreneur stays. That’s what’s important. And hopefully more stores can stay open because of that.”
For small villages that have lost their last supermarket, Van Velden sees possible new solutions: “Maybe the return of the SRV van, farm shops, or even Picnic offering delivery in those areas.”
