The Winkel Op Wielen is the best SRV bus to have at your door
I remember it so well: staying with my grandparents in Amsterdam-Oost, with the highlight of the day being the SRV bus! I have no idea why, really, because those bottles of milk and boxes of eggs were nowhere near as tasty or fun as the things the new Winkel op Wielen sells. Especially now, that really is the highlight of my day!
And are you thinking: SRV, what do you mean by that? Then you probably didn’t experience the 1970s. At that time, these supermarket vans drove through every village and city. The mobile supermarket was the brilliant idea of Cor Boonstra—who later became famous as CEO of Philips. At the time, he was sales manager at the Zuivel Handel Maatschappij and came up with the idea that it would be useful to supplement the distribution of dairy products, then still sold in glass deposit bottles, with other products, in a modern vehicle. He became the first SRV director and ensured the company’s enormous growth: in 1970, two thousand SRV vans drove throughout the Netherlands. And the name? Nice and oldskool: an abbreviation for Samen Rationeel Verkopen.
The WOW bus
As supermarkets grew larger, combined with an increase in the number of women working outside the home, the SRV van largely disappeared. But the Winkel Op Wielen (in other words: the WOW bus) by Lotte van der Duin & Meike Heynens is a delicious alternative to the supermarket van of old.
The products in the WOW bus all have a special story, beautiful (or rather: fantastic!) packaging, are often new, or come from the region. The range changes regularly—and alongside the tastiest food products, they also sell special make-up and gifts.
Oh, those sausage rolls… mmmm!
Brands you may currently find on the bus include: Vascobelo coffee, Edgard Cooper pet food, Chabrol Wines, peanut butter from De Pindakaaswinkel, cookies from Donny Craves, the (divine!) sausage rolls from ’n Dungense Dame, Earth Water, healthy crisps from Food2Smile, healthy ginger juices from Gimber, special pepernoten from Peppernuts, fermented vegetables from SauerCrowd, vegan cheese from Willicroft, granola and crackers from Yespers, liquorice sweets from Yummygums, Bongiorno Vinegar Drinks and the delicious snert from SNERT-bar. I’d say: order a coffee and have a lovely browse in the meantime.
The bus has been set up to be corona-proof, with both an entrance and an exit so that a maximum of two people can enter at once. There is a sales hatch on the side of the bus for people who cannot or do not want to enter the bus. A maximum of two people, or one household, may shop inside the bus.
Winkel op Wielen routes
The WOW bus is starting with ten different routes in Greater Amsterdam, operating in the style of the classic SRV van. In other words: it only stops in residential areas, and the bus will move on every 10–20 minutes. The WOW bus runs from Tuesday through Saturday between 10:00 and 18:00, depending on the rules in each municipality. Three to five villages are visited per day, and the route is repeated after two weeks. You can follow the bus live every day via the website.
Plans for 2021 are already in place too: the intention is to expand its reach from Greater Amsterdam to other provinces and neighboring regions, with more WOW buses.
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