According to Openingsuren.nl, this could be because New Year’s Eve falls on a Sunday in 2023. Usually fewer supermarkets are open on that day.
With the upcoming New Year’s fall, the number of open supers does not increase for the first time in years. In recent years, supermarkets have invariably opened their doors on New Year’s Eve more often: in 2015 that number was still 6%, in 2019 it was 20%, and now around 40%.
At least one supermarket is open in 242 of the current 344 municipalities. Especially in North and South Holland and North Brabant, New Year’s shoppers can go to many supermarkets. Of the larger municipalities, in Amsterdam (81%), Almere (79%), Utrecht (77%) and The Hague (72%), the vast majority of supermarkets are open on 1 January.
In the Bible Belt, a strip that runs roughly from Zealand to Overijssel and where many Reform Dutch live, many shops are closed on January 1st. In parts of the Achterhoek and South Limburg, all supermarkets are also closing their doors.
