If it is up to D66, yes. The government party informs RTL News that it is in favor of a ban in the Netherlands to leave the door open when the air conditioning is running at full speed. ‘But’, says a spokesperson, ‘we do have doubts about enforceability. Especially in this time of staff shortages.’
That is why the party first argues for people to make people aware of the energy waste ‘in the hope that they will pay attention to it themselves’.
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‘Open door invites more’
However, INretail, the representative of the retail companies, sees nothing in an obligation for shops. A spokesperson says it is better to leave the choice with the entrepreneurs. “There will remain entrepreneurs who keep their doors open. An open door is more inviting than a closed door. But I think the main rule is that entrepreneurs themselves make sense and close the door if they find this wise.”
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Consumer psychologist Patrick Wessels agrees that customers are more likely to enter a store when the door is open. “Unconsciously, it is a barrier for people to enter a store with a closed door.”
‘Regulation is fairer’
But that is precisely why Wessels understands that regulation can be good. “If everyone has to close the doors when the air conditioning is on, everyone participates. You create a fairer playing field.”
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Yet it does not necessarily cost you customers if you close the doors, entrepreneur Peter ter Horst knows from women’s fashion chain ter Horst van Geel. In his stores, the doors have been closed since 2016 when it is hot or very cold outside.
‘Don’t burn for the sparrows’
“Like almost any other company, we have a sustainability policy, in which we are constantly trying to take steps to take the climate into account. One of those steps is that we keep the doors closed when the air conditioning is on. We do not heat for the sparrows, we say then.”
There are clear signs on the doors of the clothing stores that the store is open. In addition, the lights are on inside the shops and Ter Horst ensures that the entrance also looks open. “We don’t put clothes racks right in front of the doors, for example. You really have to radiate that you are open.”
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“We also explain the reason that the doors are closed. Of course we thought it was exciting in the beginning how the customer would react, but from the start we have only received positive reactions and we can now conclude that we are not have experienced some form of customer loss since we closed the doors.”
‘Economic advantage too’
Ter Horst is therefore surprised that other stores are still heating or cooling with the doors open. “I think that is very strange. There are only good sides to it: it is sustainable, you can better cool or heat the store and economically there is also an advantage.”
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