More supermarkets open on New Year’s Day, especially in big cities

More supermarkets are staying open on New Year’s Day. A decade ago, just 10 percent of stores operated on January 1; today, 45 percent are open, up from 43 percent last year. The figures come from Openingstijden.nl, which gathered data from almost 3,700 supermarket branches.

At least one supermarket is open in 75 percent of municipalities. Of the ten largest cities, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Almere have the highest proportion of open stores. In Nijmegen, the country’s tenth-largest city, only two supermarkets are open, one of which is a to-go location at the train station.

All supermarkets are closed in 88 municipalities, mostly in the eastern Netherlands. In Overijssel and Gelderland, over half of the municipalities have no open supermarkets.

Whether a supermarket is open largely depends on how urbanized and densely populated the area is. Stores in bigger cities and urban regions are more likely to open, thanks to higher foot traffic and tourism, whereas many branches in smaller towns or rural areas stay closed. This trend is not unique to the Netherlands; it occurs internationally as well.

Dutch law generally requires shops to stay closed on public holidays, according to the Shop Opening Hours Act. Municipalities can grant exemptions, though, permitting supermarkets to open on occasions like New Year’s Day. Without an exemption, stores are required to stay closed.

Opening on public holidays also raises labor and social issues. Workers typically receive extra pay for holiday shifts, but staffing can become challenging, making work conditions on these days a frequent point of negotiation between employers and staff.