10 things you didn’t know about the supermarket

Once a week (or more often), you fill your cart there, but did you know that supermarkets have only existed since the Second World War? And that the Dutch word ‘beurtbalkje’ was coined in 1996? Grocery shopping can be such a source of cultural enrichment!

It’s my turn

The name ‘beurtbalkje’ for the thing that separates your groceries from those of the people behind you was coined in 1996. That year, the magazine Onze Taal held a competition to come up with a name for the object. Other suggestions included: beurtbalkje, divider, kassabalkje, klantenbalkje, klantenwig and stopper. Beurtbalkje was the winner, and in 2002 the activist group Over De Balk took to the barricades to get the word included in the Van Dale dictionary as well. Germany held a similar election, where the beurtbalkje is called ‘Warentrenner’.

Nijmegen leads the way

The first Dutch supermarket opened in 1946. Not in a major city such as Amsterdam or Rotterdam, no: Chris van Woerkom opened the doors of his supermarket in Nijmegen. In 1948, Dirk van den Broek opened one in Amsterdam, and in 1949 Kijkgrijp opened in Velsen-Noord.

Neighbourhood supermarket

The average distance to the nearest supermarket: 680 metres.

King

The king of the supermarket is still Albert Heijn; they hold 35% of the market (according to research from 2018).

Mobile supermarket

Long live the man from SRV, the advertising jingle for the mobile supermarket from the 1960s, was sung by Het Cocktail Trio, who are also known for their songs Kangaroe Eiland and Wie heeft de sleutel van de jukebox gezien? (and music lovers: definitely look them up on Google).

Huge

The world’s largest supermarket chain is probably the Russian Magnit, with more than 12,000 stores. In second place is the French Carrefour, always a nice stop during a holiday.

Looking for eggs

Supermarket employees are most often asked where the eggs are.

Take one for a euro

A shopping trolley costs around 200 euros.

Fooled

Supermarket chains try to persuade us to buy more by, among other things, putting out larger carts and baskets (so you think you’re not buying much at all) and placing the dairy section right at the back of the store. You usually need milk, or butter, or yoghurt, and then you have to walk through the entire supermarket to get it.

Convenient, but expensive

Those handy meal kits that supermarkets have recently started selling are always more expensive than buying the ingredients separately, Business Insider calculated. But then again, do you really feel like doing that?

Organic isn’t cheap

Do you prefer to shop organic? The Dutch Consumers’ Association calculated that Dirk is the cheapest option. Organic groceries are most expensive at Natuurwinkel and Odin.

Also read:

• 11 supermarket things that are genuinely hilarious
• Packaging misery in the supermarket: the struggle is real
• 9 times you’re seriously being ripped off at the supermarket