Dutch neighborhood shopping centers perform better than before the Covid crisis. The vacancy rate decreased from almost 7% to 6% between 2019 and 2021, while vacancy in city centers rose from 7% to 10%.
The success of neighborhood shopping centers is mainly due to the wide range of shops for daily needs, such as supermarkets, bakeries and fishmongers. These shops became more important due to the Covid crisis, a result of the periods in which restaurants and cafés were closed. For a long period, only 'essential' stores were allowed to stay open. Such stores are strongly represented in neighborhood shopping centres, which made the consequences of lockdowns smaller than for city centers.
The success of neighborhood shopping centers is mainly due to the wide range of shops for daily needs, such as supermarkets, bakeries and fishmongers. These shops became more important due to the Covid crisis, a result of the periods in which restaurants and cafés were closed. For a long period, only 'essential' stores were allowed to stay open. Such stores are strongly represented in neighborhood shopping centres, which made the consequences of lockdowns smaller than for city centers.
