The only Dirk van den Broek in Amsterdam’s city center has closed. The supermarket on the Warmoesstraat was open for the last time on Friday, July 31, and did not reopen on Saturday.
It had been there since 2016, in a former monastery building surrounded by ice cream parlors, bars and tourist traffic. The branch was small by the chain’s standards and carried a narrower range than its suburban stores.
Why it closed
A spokesperson for the chain pointed to the economics of running a small supermarket in the old center. Rising costs, increasing regulation and operational constraints have combined to make such locations progressively harder to run at a profit, the company said.
The chain also raised the safety of its staff. Employees have faced “increasing aggression and nuisance” in the immediate area around the store, and the company described a safe working environment for its colleagues as an absolute condition.
The district’s account differs
Stadsdeel Centrum said it regrets the departure and confirmed that Dirk van den Broek terminated the lease itself. A district spokesperson framed the decision differently, however, saying it was “not necessarily because of safety, but mainly logistical aspects and a company philosophy that has changed.”
The district is in talks about what could replace the supermarket. That decision rests with the owner of the building, not the city.
What the police say
Police confirmed that the city center deals with a range of nuisance problems, but said aggression and nuisance are difficult to express in figures. As a result it is not known whether this branch experienced more trouble than other supermarkets and businesses nearby, or how the current situation compares with the past.
The closure leaves the center without a Dirk van den Broek. For residents of the oldest part of the city, it removes one of the few full grocery options in an area increasingly given over to visitors.
