Spar in Dutch means spruce. As in a spruce tree. As in the logo of the supermarket chain. It was started in the Netherlands as De Spar: Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig. Nothing German about it. The fact that ‘spar’ means ‘save’ in German is a happy coincidence.
@@joebloggs2473 it is a franchise yes, it is originally Dutch though you can look it up... They have a selection of stores all through Europe. So even though they might be expensive, they're doing something right ;)
The only coincidence between saving and 'spar' is in the etymology of the word, because Spar is hella expensive. Especially if it's a Spar store within a tourist location, you'll get an extra bonus upcharge of about 20%
@@patrickd9551 There is no similar etymology between Spar (the supermarket) and spar the German word for saving. The supermarket is an acronym that doesn’t mention saving. It translates as something like ‘by cooperation in unison all (shall) profit regularly.
A smaller upcoming supermarket chain: Boon's markt. They started fairly close to Rotterdam, but have grown to 20 different locations by now. I (hilariously) am a great great granddaughter or something from the original starters, and can regularly bump into far family I haven't met before.
I was surprised to hear there's only Dutch and French on packages. In my experience, if there was a second language on the packaging, it was almost always English. So that puzzled me a bit.
5:40 Products in Dutch supermarkets are sold in Netherlands and Belgium. Because Dutch and French are official languages in Belgium. The box also contains French because of that reason. Why not English? Someone living in the Netherlands should be capable of speaking Dutch. It's madness if the Dutch has to adapt to foreigners and add English to Dutch products.
This was really surprising when I visited Luxembourg this summer. Most products were primarily labeled in Dutch, even though almost nobody there speaks the language.
@@qwertyuiopzxcfgh Of some brands the products have two sides, a primary Dutch one and a primary French one. The stockers just don't pay attention to that.
And northern France which used to be part of the Low Countries. Lille is still called Rijssel in Vlaamse. Dunkirk is Duinenkerken. Ostend is Oostenden. The old names for produce is still used.
Fun fact: Spar has nothing to do with German. It is a Dutch acronym. Before the second world war, that was a bit en vogue to name companies as acronyms. SPAR stands for "Samen Profiteren Allen Regelmatig" (Together All Profit Regularly). The HQ is still in the Netherlands. Another internationally well known acronym is HEMA "Hollandse Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam" (Dutch Unified Prices Company Amsterdam). HEMA was the first retailer asking the same price for articles throughout the Netherlands.
The original name was DE SPAR, which completes the acronym: Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig (By Working Together All Profit Regularly).
As Dutchie I was curious about non-Dutchies perspective on the products. But vla is just a dessert, not something to quench your thirst, I don’t think they advertise it like a thirst quencher. But hey, great video, not 100% accurate, but can’t really expect that either, it’s also pretty much interpretation. Oh, and about the sprinkles, dark chocolate ones are better than the milk chocolate ones! (And the vlokken version even better! Oh, and try Dutch peanutbutter with hagelslag or vlokken (dark chocolate ones of course))
The first time I visited Utrecht, I bought the most incredible cookies at Boon's Market. They were in the bakery section (not on the shelves with the packaged cookies).. I took a picture of the label so I could find them next time I visited from the U.S., .....But alas... next time I went, everyone said they hadn't seen them in a while,, but they all remembered the cookie when I showed them a picture 😆 ,,, They called them "Lava cookies". They were like a slightly Biscoff tasting shortbread filled with a caramel filling (nt overly sweet( with a touch of zeezout (sea salt 😆) .. They were rich, so you could only eat one... but YUM! Jumbo was a pretty cool store too. Love the choice of yogurts, cheese, etc. compared to what we have in the U.S. I also couldn't believe how many stores sold huge paprika peppers! You NEVER see them in the states like that! I need to come back..
I think what she means with "it looks like it would quench your thirst" is because in a lot of countries (certainly where I'm from), you only find drinkable things in milk cartons. Yoghurt, vla, and anything else, is found in other types of packages like tetrapack boxes, plastic containers, or glass jars. The first time I visited the netherlands I absolutely bought a carton of vla thinking it was vanilla flavored milk lol
This exactly. I really hate the Spar. It's more expensive than Albert Heijn and it lacks a a lot of products in their assortment. In my opinion Albert Heijn is the best because of the quality of readily made meals and the possibility to use your smartphone as a self-checkout handscanner. Jumbo is a great second, no real reason except having Frank Lammers in their ads.
The description of Spar is hilarious. You'll find in fact that no two Spars are alike... it's a franchise that allows a LOT of freedom to the franchisees, so they very much adapt to the tastes and needs of the neighborhood they are in.
There are only 2 peppernoten factories in the Netherlands: Bolletje and Van Delft. Lidl pepernoten are made in the same factory as boleltje, only difference is lidl ones have more sugar. I worked for one of these companies.
Another common one in the North and great for your hard-to-pronounce-list: Poiesz And Lidl in my opinion does something more special than being just a discount supermarket. Their products are high quality, but they keep costs down by sticking to basic and pure ingredients and not much variation in packaging size. Hence the lower price.
If you like the taste of chocolate and free slavery.... That's a weird way to say the chocolate for Tony Chocolonely is grown without the exploitation of enslaved people. Great chocolate though, and better ethics than most chocolate producers.
The reason why a lot of packaging has Dutch and French is because of the "Benelux" - the region encompassing the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which many brands treat as a single market or at least manufacturing region. So the same product in the same packaging might get sold in all of those countries :)
Pindakaas is one word not seperated (not pinda kaas) and means peanut butter. Pinda kaas would be translated as peanut cheese. I does not have the right to be called "pindaboter" due to the fact that it does not match the requierments of butter. People think they have been buying some kind of butter which is not butter, so that's why the rule.
correction: most supermarkets don't accept creditcards. There is a simple reason: it's way too expensive. Our banking system is based upon fair fixed transaction costs. Because it doesn't matter if you transfer 1 or 100 euro, it's all the same in the digital world. There is no reason for a percentage upcharge, except greed. Which coincidentally, creditcard companies are greedy in many regards. Transaction fees, interest and datacollection (to sell for even more profit) /end rant
Spar has nothing to do with Germany, nor is it referring to any German word. It actually is a type of conifer, which also explains its logo. Lidl however is of German origin, like Aldi.
The part about the alcoholic beverages sold in supermarkets is not correct. Dutch supermarkets are allowe to sell all sorts of alcoholic bevarages, as long as they contain less then 15% alcohol. Hence why Bailey’s sold in the supermarket has 14.9% alcohol and from the liquor store it contains 17% alcohol. Only one product is excluded from this rule, ans that is Port, because it is fortified wine
The plastic wrapping of vegetables is indeed something one can discuss about very well. The negative side is - obviously - the extra plastic that has to be produced, and ends as waste. The positive side is that it keeps the vegetables fresher much longer, so less waste of food. For a humble consumer, it's not possible to assess if the one outweights the other.
I'm so fascinated at how cheap even the most expensive grocery store chain is in the Netherlands, significantly beating the prices of the cheapest grocery stores in Seattle, WA.
Are US prices more expensive across the board? I live in England (in Cambridge, so it's not cheap - thank god for Aldi!) and the rumour seems to be that fresh produce in particular is very expensive in the US, which is why comparatively cheaper ready meals and fast food are so popular. Is the discrepancy between fresh and produce real, or are prices just higher across the board? Sorry, just curious!
@@misialubiejewska2041 I don't know, honestly. I've only ever lived in the greater Seattle area. It's probably not as expensive across the board, but I can't say for sure.
One of the reasons for this is that we had a grocery store price war from around 2003-2007. It started when Albert Heijn lowered prices for over 1000 products causing other supermarkets to respond which all resulted in competing for low prices (price war on the dutch wikipedia page has a little section about this event). Comparing prices to the US might be a bit hard since there is a huge difference in infrastructure and logistics but if you cross the border into Belgium you can already notice the higher prices.
Lidl is definitely not the cheapest supermarket, but it's not illegal for dutch supermarkets to advvertise thwt they are the cheapest eventhough they for sure are not
Thank you for anyone watching my video! Spar is a Dutch brand. My German friends pointed out that if you translate "Spar" in german that means "a steal" or "economize" and thought it was funny because it is not the case.
It used to be the case when i lived in this small town called numansdorp back in the 90s but we only had 2 supermarkets there at the time albertheijn and the spar which is now the plus
The main reason product information tends to be in Dutch and French is because that way the manufacturer can offer the same packaging in the Dutch and Belgian (and French) markets. In Belgium by law both languages need to be there. You also (certainly in the east) find a lot of packaging that has German information on it so the product can be sold in Germany (and Austria).
Same in Maastricht. It is like the Carrefour city or AH to go stores. Freaking useless garbage. You walk in there thinking it is a normal supermarket. Then you walk out because they don't have what you want and made you feel poor.
5:45 the reason it is in French is that most of these products are also sold in Belgium supermarkets where they use both Dutch and French. 7:16 it is confirmed by maestro and vpay that starting march 2023 all news cards wil be Mastercard debit and Visa debit cards so no need to worry about this anymore.
The fruits and veggies are located near the entrance to make you feel good about yourself and spend more. Super markets are actually allowed to sell all sorts of alcohol as long as the alcohol percentage inside is less than 15%. Also Lidl isn't that cheap compared to something like the Appie. Small sample size, I know... but last time I went to the Lidl it was for salmon and shrimp. AH's salmon was €24,- while at Lidl it was €24,90. Shrimp was also a bit more expensive at Lidl but don't remember by how much.
Not to be a nitt pick.. buuuuut, old Amsterdam (though very very tasty) is not really "old cheese". It is artificially sped up "old" cheese. Bit like calling a mc-donnalds a hamburger joint versus dyers :D
To add to this. The term 'oude kaas' is a protected name and a cheese may only be cold 'oud' (Dutch for 'old') if it has aged for a certain amount of time. These rules do not apply to 'Old Amsterdam' because they don't call it 'oude kaas'. It's commonly known as 'oude kaas' but Old Amsterdam may never call it 'oude kaas' itself because of the sped up ripening.
The major difference between American supermarkets and the Dutch - or European in general - is that at the checkout you are supposed your bag your just bought items. No checkoutpersonell is going to do that for you. On my trips throughout the US I noticed that lines at checkout were immensely long, only to find out that checkoutpersonell doesn't only present the check to the customer, but only bags the just sold items. Checkout time is extremely long due to that prolonged process. Forget about running a quick errand - usually you end up after someone who has a fully loaded cart - or several of them. Even expresslanes allow for multiple items.
Yeah American supermarkets used to be faster as they'd have a cashier and a bagboy in every line. By the 1990s, new stores were adding carousels for the cashier to use to save money. The older stores usually kept 1 or 2 bag boys that had to move around 4 or more lines. But they had other jobs like gathering shopping carts and stocking stuff. I'd always take over for them at my grocery store and bag everything. There are a few stores here where you bag your own stuff though. Aldi is the big one. The other one I went to was Save-A-Lot which was similar to Aldi with minimal stocking.
10 or more years ago, we had MANY more supermarkets , but most of them have been bought up by the few remaining chains. RIP EDAH, Konmar, Super, C1000, de Boer, Sanders, Emté
Now that you mention it, when I was a kid, we also had a COOP in Antwerp/Belgium, but it somehow disappeared by the end of the sixties or early 70's. We pronounced it coöp or co-op and my mum told us it came from being a coöperative organisation. No idea if this was true and no idea it those Coop's had anything to do with the "coop" you mentioned in the clip at 1:32
I used to study at Leiden University and live in Hazerswoude Rijndijk. There is a Hoogvliet supermarket. What I find interesting are the singling animals (like pigs) in the supermarket.
The reason some products have Dutch and French labels is because of Belgium, products are often shared between the 2 countries because of the common language, and since a part of Belgium speaks French, some products that are made for the Belgian and the Dutch maarket will have French and Dutch on them.
Oh my word I love your sense of humour! What could have been a boring video (like, it's groceries) was made fun and entertaining and had me smiling throughout! Dankie! (as we say in baby dutch)
This is the content I needed and didn't know. As a fan of grocery shopping and supermarkets, I always wondered which were the available options in a specific country - which is very handy when moving abroad, so it was a delight to watch this video. I particularly loved the price x quality graphic, so satisfying as a finance/saving enthusiast.
Not completely true about the 3 types of alcohol in super markets. In the Netherlands you need a special license to sell alcohol from 15% on. So anything below 15% is allowed (like wine, beer, cider), or mixed drinks like a rum and cola.
5 месяцев назад+1
Polish contacts asked me, how long they could eat, twice a day a cooked meal, and not eating the same dish twice. Note: there are 184 nationalities in Holland. It took me a few days calculating, result: 22 years, plus a few weeks...... Sometimes you realy must look to find a Dutch shop...
I left the Netherlands 9 months ago. I was living there for a while. You definitely made me remember all those super markets :) thanks Erika, good memories 4 me ...
Honestly, Jumbo is more pricey than Albert heijn - or I buy the wrong products, I have no Idee 🤷♂️ also, Coop is f ing expensive…. same as Spar. But those are just my opinions as an international student in north Brabant who lives here since the end of august of 2023. So to all the lovely Dutchies out there - I am gladly taking suggestions on more affordable options than Albert heijn… Jumbo sadly is not the vibe I am into so yeah. Also, are farmers markets worth it? I never go there because I am scared of getting shamed for not speaking Dutch very well 🙈 so, my question is, do they usually speak English or do I just have to improve my Dutch? Thanksss
nice video, in my littel city we have plus, albert hein and a spar, i've gone to all of them but i tend to go to the spar because the products are fresher
There are certain things that I'll never buy in a supermarket: bread, meat, fish, vegetables, cheese and precooked meals. The first five I buy from my local baker, butcher, fishmonger, cheese shop and greengrocer. And the last one? I love to cook, so that's that. I also often bake my own bread, especially on weekends. No sweets for me.
5 месяцев назад+1
But the real traditional dishes: stampots. The best: stamppot boerenkool; comes with sausage and sweet and sauer....
In All the supermarkets in the Netherlands EVERY kind of alcoholic beverage is allowed to be sold in their stores !!! Literally EVERY alcoholic beverage can be bought by the customers in their stores !!!!! I don't know where YOU got this BS made up fact from, but You are very very WRONG about that !!!
Tony's Chocolate is actually not slave free. It's a full on lie. The owner uses a loophole in the law to be able to say its slave free. But in reality they are worse than Nestle.
You missed the supermarkets Jan Linders and Nettorama... To also good supermarkets. Especially Nettorama is great and cheap with high quality for your money.
2 things i just wanted to point out. the first don't get the singulair bars at the check out they are overpriced af and the 2nd pls don't call it peanutcheese 😭
Using a credit card for shopping is kinda really weird. We use a simple debit card, or pay by phone or cash. But debit card is the most used. Very rare to see someone use a credit card. Gives off the impression you don't have money in the sense you're not using your debit card because you have no money on the account so you turn to your credit card.
Sorry but you did not mention our real favourite Dutch foods. Like Snert or boerenkool or bloemkool, Asperges and many other procucts. Ik may not the world wide most accepted products... but damn they taste very good. Yeah boerenkool is named called kale (a superfood)... but you have never tasted it in the Netherlands... especially not in the northern part of the Netherlands! But do we really want to share our secret? I do not know. Probably not! The more other countries love our special meal with Kale/ Cale... the more it will cost for ourselves in this expensive times. And I love it, so much as a great food... if it is made our way, so as long you Americans see it as an superfood... it remains affordable for us Dutch people!
Fun fact - Dutch don't have national cuisine. I had a long layover in the Schiphol airport and decided to go to the city to eat something. I didn't find any Dutch food in the whole Amsterdam - they eat the same food as Americans 😮! This is the only nation in Europe that didn't come up with something.
re. frrench, i was confused aswell when i was a kid why it was in french but it is because of belgium, which is a bilingual dutch french country so most brands just threw up their hands and copy their labels in french (or in dutch depending on your perspective) so everyone in belgium can understand it and the brands don't have to design more labels. it also works because french and dutch adjectives take opposite places before and after words so they say the noun once and the adjective twice
“….Cheese” in dutch food law is a possible name for anything that can be “smeared” on something. It has nothing to do with actual cheese. Livercheese, peanut cheese, head cheese, etc. Are all spreadable products to go on bread.
Nice initiative, but a tad skinny on factuality and horrid pronunciation which makes me wonder whether the presenter is actually Dutch but gets carried away in Americanizing the way she speaks.
Buying very cheap fruits and fish and better quality cheese is 100% worth overcoming your social anxiety. Just make a system for ordering as market, "I would like" "yes please" "thank you", that is all you need. Hoogvliet is like AH but cheaper, but only in middle and West. The reason they use French on most labels is to als sell in the other Dutch speaking country; Belgium.
The green tree is a spar in dutch lady, it is co - op, it is broek with an oe as in shoe.... Lidl has good quality beers chocolates and bread.. meats how ever are crazy expensive.
Spar in Dutch means spruce. As in a spruce tree. As in the logo of the supermarket chain. It was started in the Netherlands as De Spar: Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig. Nothing German about it. The fact that ‘spar’ means ‘save’ in German is a happy coincidence.
@-Levi -games- You're probably talking about 'spaar' haha
Spar is pure franchise. In Salzburg in the house Mozart was born has a Spar in it.
@@joebloggs2473 it is a franchise yes, it is originally Dutch though you can look it up... They have a selection of stores all through Europe. So even though they might be expensive, they're doing something right ;)
The only coincidence between saving and 'spar' is in the etymology of the word, because Spar is hella expensive.
Especially if it's a Spar store within a tourist location, you'll get an extra bonus upcharge of about 20%
@@patrickd9551 There is no similar etymology between Spar (the supermarket) and spar the German word for saving. The supermarket is an acronym that doesn’t mention saving. It translates as something like ‘by cooperation in unison all (shall) profit regularly.
A smaller upcoming supermarket chain: Boon's markt. They started fairly close to Rotterdam, but have grown to 20 different locations by now.
I (hilariously) am a great great granddaughter or something from the original starters, and can regularly bump into far family I haven't met before.
I was surprised to hear there's only Dutch and French on packages. In my experience, if there was a second language on the packaging, it was almost always English. So that puzzled me a bit.
Spar and Albert Heijn are the most expansive. Jumbo and Nettorama are the cheapest. Lidl and aldi where cheap...a long time ago...
5:40 Products in Dutch supermarkets are sold in Netherlands and Belgium. Because Dutch and French are official languages in Belgium. The box also contains French because of that reason. Why not English? Someone living in the Netherlands should be capable of speaking Dutch. It's madness if the Dutch has to adapt to foreigners and add English to Dutch products.
French is second because it is spoken in Belgium (Wallonia in the south), most products are developped for the Benelux as a whole
Yet most products in Belgium just have their own country specific labels, making this quite a redundant relic of the past.
This was really surprising when I visited Luxembourg this summer. Most products were primarily labeled in Dutch, even though almost nobody there speaks the language.
@@qwertyuiopzxcfgh Of some brands the products have two sides, a primary Dutch one and a primary French one. The stockers just don't pay attention to that.
@@MrAronymous stockers don't get paid to read labels, just to throw product (onto the shelves).
And northern France which used to be part of the Low Countries. Lille is still called Rijssel in Vlaamse. Dunkirk is Duinenkerken. Ostend is Oostenden. The old names for produce is still used.
Fun fact: Spar has nothing to do with German. It is a Dutch acronym. Before the second world war, that was a bit en vogue to name companies as acronyms. SPAR stands for "Samen Profiteren Allen Regelmatig" (Together All Profit Regularly). The HQ is still in the Netherlands. Another internationally well known acronym is HEMA "Hollandse Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam" (Dutch Unified Prices Company Amsterdam). HEMA was the first retailer asking the same price for articles throughout the Netherlands.
Besides, spar is also a perfectly normal Dutch name. It's a kind of tree. Nothing to do with German at all.
And HEMA had their prices rounded up to 5 cents. So nothing for 4,99 but 5.00 or 4,75.
@@dutchman7623 Only if you pay cash. If you pay by card, it's not rounded up.
@@mariadebake5483 they had begrijpend lezen verleden tijd.
The original name was DE SPAR, which completes the acronym: Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig (By Working Together All Profit Regularly).
As Dutchie I was curious about non-Dutchies perspective on the products. But vla is just a dessert, not something to quench your thirst, I don’t think they advertise it like a thirst quencher. But hey, great video, not 100% accurate, but can’t really expect that either, it’s also pretty much interpretation. Oh, and about the sprinkles, dark chocolate ones are better than the milk chocolate ones! (And the vlokken version even better! Oh, and try Dutch peanutbutter with hagelslag or vlokken (dark chocolate ones of course))
Pindakaas with hagelslag and banana is the way to go!
Vla is basically custard pudding for the English.
jokes on you i drink vla lol
The first time I visited Utrecht, I bought the most incredible cookies at Boon's Market. They were in the bakery section (not on the shelves with the packaged cookies).. I took a picture of the label so I could find them next time I visited from the U.S., .....But alas... next time I went, everyone said they hadn't seen them in a while,, but they all remembered the cookie when I showed them a picture 😆 ,,, They called them "Lava cookies". They were like a slightly Biscoff tasting shortbread filled with a caramel filling (nt overly sweet( with a touch of zeezout (sea salt 😆) .. They were rich, so you could only eat one... but YUM! Jumbo was a pretty cool store too. Love the choice of yogurts, cheese, etc. compared to what we have in the U.S. I also couldn't believe how many stores sold huge paprika peppers! You NEVER see them in the states like that! I need to come back..
I think what she means with "it looks like it would quench your thirst" is because in a lot of countries (certainly where I'm from), you only find drinkable things in milk cartons. Yoghurt, vla, and anything else, is found in other types of packages like tetrapack boxes, plastic containers, or glass jars. The first time I visited the netherlands I absolutely bought a carton of vla thinking it was vanilla flavored milk lol
spar never fails to make me feel like ive been scammed by a supermarket, sadly its the only supermarket on my way back from work ;-;
This exactly. I really hate the Spar. It's more expensive than Albert Heijn and it lacks a a lot of products in their assortment. In my opinion Albert Heijn is the best because of the quality of readily made meals and the possibility to use your smartphone as a self-checkout handscanner. Jumbo is a great second, no real reason except having Frank Lammers in their ads.
Omdat het een ander type supermarkt is, het zijn veel vaker meer convenience stores net als Jumbo City of AH to go.
The description of Spar is hilarious. You'll find in fact that no two Spars are alike... it's a franchise that allows a LOT of freedom to the franchisees, so they very much adapt to the tastes and needs of the neighborhood they are in.
Village spars are the best
Fun fact, there are only about 3 peanutbutter factories in the netherlands that produce almost all brands found in supermarkets.
There are only 2 peppernoten factories in the Netherlands: Bolletje and Van Delft. Lidl pepernoten are made in the same factory as boleltje, only difference is lidl ones have more sugar. I worked for one of these companies.
Het viel me sws al op dat Lidl pindakaas bijna hetzelfde smaakt als Calvé voor de halve prijs. Best goed als je op een budget zit :)
@@Aardappelpurree Behalve dat calve niet word gemaakt waar lidl word gemaakt (teminste de gewoone pindakazen)
Another common one in the North and great for your hard-to-pronounce-list: Poiesz
And Lidl in my opinion does something more special than being just a discount supermarket. Their products are high quality, but they keep costs down by sticking to basic and pure ingredients and not much variation in packaging size. Hence the lower price.
06:20 the Dutch have Dutchified foods from other country's to make it their own :P
Pretty sure it's different from the rest of Europe
If you like the taste of chocolate and free slavery....
That's a weird way to say the chocolate for Tony Chocolonely is grown without the exploitation of enslaved people.
Great chocolate though, and better ethics than most chocolate producers.
If you live in Friesland you will encounter the Poiesz as supermarket.
I love how much effort you put in your videos! Keep going!! ♥️
The reason why a lot of packaging has Dutch and French is because of the "Benelux" - the region encompassing the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which many brands treat as a single market or at least manufacturing region. So the same product in the same packaging might get sold in all of those countries :)
Indeed! Especially when there's only so many Dutch speakers so it's not worth for them to produce packaging for only The Netherlands.
Pindakaas is one word not seperated (not pinda kaas) and means peanut butter. Pinda kaas would be translated as peanut cheese.
I does not have the right to be called "pindaboter" due to the fact that it does not match the requierments of butter. People think they have been buying some kind of butter which is not butter, so that's why the rule.
Correct! The word butter is reserved for fat from milk, nothing else.
Come from the time they tried to sell margarine as butter.
You forgot Poiesz, one of the most common supermarkets in the north of NL :(
You are a true OG if you remember Super de Boer and Emté
Also Dirk has a walk in fridge
Super de Boer only stopped 9 years ago, so everyone over 15 is a true OG?
C1000 softly crying in the corner
@@Mattdewit holy smokes
And ‘Deen’😥
Don't forget about the Konmar!
The AH (Albert Hein's abbreviation) is actually pronounced "AHA", not "Ah":)
And I think more people call it 'Appie' than 'AH' as well
@@NickyHendriks That is a good addition, Nicky! Thanks.
correction: most supermarkets don't accept creditcards. There is a simple reason: it's way too expensive.
Our banking system is based upon fair fixed transaction costs. Because it doesn't matter if you transfer 1 or 100 euro, it's all the same in the digital world.
There is no reason for a percentage upcharge, except greed. Which coincidentally, creditcard companies are greedy in many regards. Transaction fees, interest and datacollection (to sell for even more profit)
/end rant
Spar has nothing to do with Germany, nor is it referring to any German word. It actually is a type of conifer, which also explains its logo. Lidl however is of German origin, like Aldi.
The part about the alcoholic beverages sold in supermarkets is not correct. Dutch supermarkets are allowe to sell all sorts of alcoholic bevarages, as long as they contain less then 15% alcohol. Hence why Bailey’s sold in the supermarket has 14.9% alcohol and from the liquor store it contains 17% alcohol. Only one product is excluded from this rule, ans that is Port, because it is fortified wine
I didn't think that a video about grocery stores could be so wholesome and entertaining, I loved it!
Note: Dirk supermarkets are only located in the west of the Netherlands. In Southeast we have Jan Linders.
The plastic wrapping of vegetables is indeed something one can discuss about very well. The negative side is - obviously - the extra plastic that has to be produced, and ends as waste. The positive side is that it keeps the vegetables fresher much longer, so less waste of food. For a humble consumer, it's not possible to assess if the one outweights the other.
Yes but it tastes bad and causes constipation. I haven't pooped in months!
I'm so fascinated at how cheap even the most expensive grocery store chain is in the Netherlands, significantly beating the prices of the cheapest grocery stores in Seattle, WA.
Are US prices more expensive across the board? I live in England (in Cambridge, so it's not cheap - thank god for Aldi!) and the rumour seems to be that fresh produce in particular is very expensive in the US, which is why comparatively cheaper ready meals and fast food are so popular. Is the discrepancy between fresh and produce real, or are prices just higher across the board? Sorry, just curious!
@@misialubiejewska2041 I don't know, honestly. I've only ever lived in the greater Seattle area. It's probably not as expensive across the board, but I can't say for sure.
One of the reasons for this is that we had a grocery store price war from around 2003-2007. It started when Albert Heijn lowered prices for over 1000 products causing other supermarkets to respond which all resulted in competing for low prices (price war on the dutch wikipedia page has a little section about this event). Comparing prices to the US might be a bit hard since there is a huge difference in infrastructure and logistics but if you cross the border into Belgium you can already notice the higher prices.
don’t you also have taxes added on it though?
@@elenaspano5067 Thats included in the pricetag you see in the shop like in any other place in the world with the exception of the US
Lidl is definitely not the cheapest supermarket, but it's not illegal for dutch supermarkets to advvertise thwt they are the cheapest eventhough they for sure are not
Thank you for anyone watching my video! Spar is a Dutch brand. My German friends pointed out that if you translate "Spar" in german that means "a steal" or "economize" and thought it was funny because it is not the case.
It used to be the case when i lived in this small town called numansdorp back in the 90s but we only had 2 supermarkets there at the time albertheijn and the spar which is now the plus
Spar is a tree. It's the kind of tree you see in the logo. The spruce tree.
SPAR is indeed a tree, the store however has nothing to do with the tree, that's why it's written in caps and like, Spar
I have been to Mozart's childhood home in Salzburg in 92 .It seemed like a nice town.
@@dutchgamer842 Correct, it's an acronym for the full original name of the chain: "Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig".
Jumbo is pronounced as Yumbo I'm not Dutch btw.
The main reason product information tends to be in Dutch and French is because that way the manufacturer can offer the same packaging in the Dutch and Belgian (and French) markets.
In Belgium by law both languages need to be there.
You also (certainly in the east) find a lot of packaging that has German information on it so the product can be sold in Germany (and Austria).
Coop in the University of Twente must be in the top of most expensive and less selection, but still it was nice to see Enschede represented
Same in Maastricht. It is like the Carrefour city or AH to go stores. Freaking useless garbage. You walk in there thinking it is a normal supermarket. Then you walk out because they don't have what you want and made you feel poor.
5:45 the reason it is in French is that most of these products are also sold in Belgium supermarkets where they use both Dutch and French.
7:16 it is confirmed by maestro and vpay that starting march 2023 all news cards wil be Mastercard debit and Visa debit cards so no need to worry about this anymore.
The fruits and veggies are located near the entrance to make you feel good about yourself and spend more. Super markets are actually allowed to sell all sorts of alcohol as long as the alcohol percentage inside is less than 15%. Also Lidl isn't that cheap compared to something like the Appie. Small sample size, I know... but last time I went to the Lidl it was for salmon and shrimp. AH's salmon was €24,- while at Lidl it was €24,90. Shrimp was also a bit more expensive at Lidl but don't remember by how much.
The alcohol-thing is right, except when it comes to Port. This is usually around 18% but can be sold at a supermarket. This is the limit though.
Not to be a nitt pick.. buuuuut, old Amsterdam (though very very tasty) is not really "old cheese". It is artificially sped up "old" cheese. Bit like calling a mc-donnalds a hamburger joint versus dyers :D
To add to this. The term 'oude kaas' is a protected name and a cheese may only be cold 'oud' (Dutch for 'old') if it has aged for a certain amount of time. These rules do not apply to 'Old Amsterdam' because they don't call it 'oude kaas'. It's commonly known as 'oude kaas' but Old Amsterdam may never call it 'oude kaas' itself because of the sped up ripening.
The major difference between American supermarkets and the Dutch - or European in general - is that at the checkout you are supposed your bag your just bought items. No checkoutpersonell is going to do that for you.
On my trips throughout the US I noticed that lines at checkout were immensely long, only to find out that checkoutpersonell doesn't only present the check to the customer, but only bags the just sold items. Checkout time is extremely long due to that prolonged process.
Forget about running a quick errand - usually you end up after someone who has a fully loaded cart - or several of them. Even expresslanes allow for multiple items.
Yeah American supermarkets used to be faster as they'd have a cashier and a bagboy in every line. By the 1990s, new stores were adding carousels for the cashier to use to save money. The older stores usually kept 1 or 2 bag boys that had to move around 4 or more lines. But they had other jobs like gathering shopping carts and stocking stuff. I'd always take over for them at my grocery store and bag everything.
There are a few stores here where you bag your own stuff though. Aldi is the big one. The other one I went to was Save-A-Lot which was similar to Aldi with minimal stocking.
All you have to do is use self checkout!
@@marilynfernandez3279 I visited the USA when the self checkout wasn't invented yet.
if you put french on a dutch item, you get belgium as a bonus country
10 or more years ago, we had MANY more supermarkets , but most of them have been bought up by the few remaining chains. RIP EDAH, Konmar, Super, C1000, de Boer, Sanders, Emté
Van Eerd and Ahold bought most, I'm afraid that the small regional chains are the next victims. If this happens AH and Jumbo will dominate the market
w8 emte bestaat niet meer?
@@GieleSipel is opgekocht door Jan Linders een paar jaar geleden
De Aldi veeel duurder geworden!!! Duurdet dan de AH!!jumbo!!!of poeiz!!!!!
These people will never know the best Supermarket ever, C-1000
Products with information in French and Dutch are sold also in Belgium and Luxembourg
Its weird to see words of the language i speak in a english video…. so weird.
Now that you mention it, when I was a kid, we also had a COOP in Antwerp/Belgium, but it somehow disappeared by the end of the sixties or early 70's.
We pronounced it coöp or co-op and my mum told us it came from being a coöperative organisation. No idea if this was true and no idea it those Coop's had anything to do with the "coop" you mentioned in the clip at 1:32
"ah" is actually pronounced like "a-ha"
Nettorama keeps me going, same products as a Jumbo or AH, but way cheaper, sadly its mainly in the south of the country
Nettorama is only in certain regions, lucky if you have one in the neighborhood
Also in the east of the Netherlands...
I used to study at Leiden University and live in Hazerswoude Rijndijk. There is a Hoogvliet supermarket. What I find interesting are the singling animals (like pigs) in the supermarket.
You don't say AH the way you say it. You say the letters seperately. A and H. In Dutch that will sound like AH(A). AH stands for Albert Heijn.
The reason some products have Dutch and French labels is because of Belgium, products are often shared between the 2 countries because of the common language, and since a part of Belgium speaks French, some products that are made for the Belgian and the Dutch maarket will have French and Dutch on them.
Also; they are sold in france and sometimes even switzerland. I found a lot of products with dutch writing on them jn france.
Hehe, It's the Vomar in my town.
Oh my word I love your sense of humour! What could have been a boring video (like, it's groceries) was made fun and entertaining and had me smiling throughout! Dankie! (as we say in baby dutch)
This is the content I needed and didn't know. As a fan of grocery shopping and supermarkets, I always wondered which were the available options in a specific country - which is very handy when moving abroad, so it was a delight to watch this video. I particularly loved the price x quality graphic, so satisfying as a finance/saving enthusiast.
Not completely true about the 3 types of alcohol in super markets. In the Netherlands you need a special license to sell alcohol from 15% on. So anything below 15% is allowed (like wine, beer, cider), or mixed drinks like a rum and cola.
Polish contacts asked me, how long they could eat, twice a day a cooked meal, and not eating the same dish twice.
Note: there are 184 nationalities in Holland.
It took me a few days calculating, result: 22 years, plus a few weeks......
Sometimes you realy must look to find a Dutch shop...
Almelo at the start of the video, good city.
You forget the Aldi and MCD ...Albert Heijn is very very expencive...!!Aldi is much cheaper ..and in every town
I left the Netherlands 9 months ago. I was living there for a while. You definitely made me remember all those super markets :) thanks Erika, good memories 4 me ...
Honestly, Jumbo is more pricey than Albert heijn - or I buy the wrong products, I have no Idee 🤷♂️ also, Coop is f ing expensive…. same as Spar. But those are just my opinions as an international student in north Brabant who lives here since the end of august of 2023.
So to all the lovely Dutchies out there - I am gladly taking suggestions on more affordable options than Albert heijn… Jumbo sadly is not the vibe I am into so yeah.
Also, are farmers markets worth it? I never go there because I am scared of getting shamed for not speaking Dutch very well 🙈 so, my question is, do they usually speak English or do I just have to improve my Dutch? Thanksss
Vomar Voordeelmarkt... Hoogvliet... Nettorama... Boni... Mcd... Ga zo nog maar even door. De helft qua ketens is vergeten.
Don't know why I'm watching this video as a Dutch person myself but I loved the random cameo of my university
ALDI and Lidl arent cheaper any more gor years.
Mostly Nettorama and Dirk are the cheapest with brands.
nice video, in my littel city we have plus, albert hein and a spar, i've gone to all of them but i tend to go to the spar because the products are fresher
There are certain things that I'll never buy in a supermarket: bread, meat, fish, vegetables, cheese and precooked meals. The first five I buy from my local baker, butcher, fishmonger, cheese shop and greengrocer. And the last one? I love to cook, so that's that. I also often bake my own bread, especially on weekends. No sweets for me.
But the real traditional dishes: stampots. The best: stamppot boerenkool; comes with sausage and sweet and sauer....
In All the supermarkets in the Netherlands EVERY kind of alcoholic beverage is allowed to be sold in their stores !!!
Literally EVERY alcoholic beverage can be bought by the customers in their stores !!!!!
I don't know where YOU got this BS made up fact from, but You are very very WRONG about that !!!
Tony's Chocolate is actually not slave free. It's a full on lie. The owner uses a loophole in the law to be able to say its slave free. But in reality they are worse than Nestle.
You missed the supermarkets Jan Linders and Nettorama... To also good supermarkets. Especially Nettorama is great and cheap with high quality for your money.
2 things i just wanted to point out. the first don't get the singulair bars at the check out they are overpriced af and the 2nd pls don't call it peanutcheese 😭
Using a credit card for shopping is kinda really weird. We use a simple debit card, or pay by phone or cash. But debit card is the most used. Very rare to see someone use a credit card. Gives off the impression you don't have money in the sense you're not using your debit card because you have no money on the account so you turn to your credit card.
I m dutch 😅😅 so funney 🎉
Sorry but you did not mention our real favourite Dutch foods. Like Snert or boerenkool or bloemkool, Asperges and many other procucts.
Ik may not the world wide most accepted products... but damn they taste very good. Yeah boerenkool is named called kale (a superfood)... but you have never tasted it in the Netherlands... especially not in the northern part of the Netherlands!
But do we really want to share our secret? I do not know. Probably not! The more other countries love our special meal with Kale/ Cale... the more it will cost for ourselves in this expensive times.
And I love it, so much as a great food... if it is made our way, so as long you Americans see it as an superfood... it remains affordable for us Dutch people!
Fun fact - Dutch don't have national cuisine. I had a long layover in the Schiphol airport and decided to go to the city to eat something. I didn't find any Dutch food in the whole Amsterdam - they eat the same food as Americans 😮! This is the only nation in Europe that didn't come up with something.
You missed a few supermarkets. Jan Linders, Nettorama and Boni.
Also Poiesz
re. frrench, i was confused aswell when i was a kid why it was in french but it is because of belgium, which is a bilingual dutch french country so most brands just threw up their hands and copy their labels in french (or in dutch depending on your perspective) so everyone in belgium can understand it and the brands don't have to design more labels. it also works because french and dutch adjectives take opposite places before and after words so they say the noun once and the adjective twice
I love the editing and the amount of research done on this video!!!!!!! You're such an underrated channel
7;49 I love free slavery, but isn't that already free? like, by definition?
“….Cheese” in dutch food law is a possible name for anything that can be “smeared” on something. It has nothing to do with actual cheese. Livercheese, peanut cheese, head cheese, etc. Are all spreadable products to go on bread.
Kit Kat 'candy' is certainly not an American brand, absolutely not.
however european and american kitkat tastes nothing alike!
peanutcheese 🤭 that's actually peanutbutter in English pindakaas is peanutbutter... the Dutch language is often a bit silly
Nice initiative, but a tad skinny on factuality and horrid pronunciation which makes me wonder whether the presenter is actually Dutch but gets carried away in Americanizing the way she speaks.
Well, since the making of this video Deen doesn't exist anymore. The stores have been bought by Albert Heijn and Vomar.
te dekamarkt in my town is not so good messy store not good whit things that expired or not look good
i suggest you to call to the headquarters and file a complaint about this, cuz this shouldnt be allowed to happen.
I believe they also write about their products in French so that French-speaking Belgians can understand. 🤔
I thought C1000 was the establisher of but 4 croissants for 1 euro. I remember them costing 55 cents back then, making it an amazing deal.
Did you film this video around university of twente and city center enschede ?????? And enschede zuid
My brother Paul and I are part Dutch on our mom's side of the family. Hello from Tyler Texas U.S.A.
Next item grocery homestores like picnic home delivery and ghost shops to bring food within 10 minutes at your frontdoor ☺
Coop at university of twente really is overpriced yeah. Its actually insane how big the markup is
great video!!! i moved to amsterdam about 2 months ago and it would've been great if i'd stumbled across your video before i came ;))
The "Maca" Waka Waka thing hahahah
I love the devils candy. The saltier the better. If it does not taste like an Indian wrestlers jock strap you are doing it wrong.
Buying very cheap fruits and fish and better quality cheese is 100% worth overcoming your social anxiety. Just make a system for ordering as market, "I would like" "yes please" "thank you", that is all you need. Hoogvliet is like AH but cheaper, but only in middle and West.
The reason they use French on most labels is to als sell in the other Dutch speaking country; Belgium.
Well.. Due to inflation it is not so cheap anymore people.
Also good video. Couldnt explain it better than you did
Old Amsterdam isn't a old cheese though, they use a chemical process to make it look and taste like a old cheese.
Amazing video. I wish I could see it before moving to the Netherlands.
We call the Albert Heijn Aa?? And pinda cheese?? 🤦♀️ the whole video is weird, I'm sorry
The green tree is a spar in dutch lady, it is co - op, it is broek with an oe as in shoe.... Lidl has good quality beers chocolates and bread.. meats how ever are crazy expensive.
Vomar is peak supermarket
U.S. Aldi is horrible. Produce is awful & meats are overpriced.
Tony’s Chocolonely is Dutch? I thought it was American!