Rotterdam joins the city of Amsterdam to impose a one-year freeze on the introduction of any more dark stores. These dark stores act as small distribution centres in the city and are used as hubs for on-demand grocery services like Getir, Gorillas, Flink, Zapp, and others.
Amsterdam was the first city to announce such a restriction on the establishment of dark stores in the city. Last week, the city council in Amsterdam approved the proposal of the municipal executive to immediately freeze the establishment of “dark stores” for flash delivery. The decision came amidst pushback from the city residents who saw these dark stores as a nuisance.
Dark stores: what you need to know
Dark stores have been popping up in major cities around Europe since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amsterdam’s city council goes as far as to say that they can be recognised by “the taped windows”. These dark stores can be described as traditional retail stores that have been converted to local fulfilment centres. As the pandemic started and stay at home orders became common, major retailers began converting their retail stores into fulfilment centres.
While this was initially seen as a pandemic trend, a number of these dark stores never went back to their retail store origin. The dark stores are essentially used to fulfil delivery and pickup orders and have now become common in grocery chains.
The dark store concept builds on the idea of placing a fulfilment centre in a densely populated area to shorten delivery times. The pandemic accelerated the need and demand for such a convenient shopping experience and the rise of superfast grocery delivery platforms have turned dark stores into a battleground. The permanent dark stores serving grocery chains tend to disrupt the supply chain and existing infrastructure.
The freeze on establishment of new dark stores in both Amsterdam and Rotterdam is because of complaints from local residents who have reported nuisance. The people in these cities have reported that the collection of groceries by the couriers results in crowding, noise and even traffic nuisance.
Amsterdam’s freeze on dark stores
The complaints against dark stores, which allow for flash delivery of groceries, have become increasingly common around the world and Europe is no exception. However, Amsterdam became the first major city to announce a freeze on such establishments. Last week, the city council announced the municipality will “press the pause button before the increase in these points of sale gets out of hand.”
While Amsterdam is not against flash delivery per se, but it is also reacting to the increasing number of complaints. The city council observes that the rapid growth of flash delivery from dark stores has led to increase in complaints about “blocked sidewalks, road safety and nightly noise pollution.”
The city council is also raising objections to the nature of these dark stores, which are neither a shop nor a supermarket, yet generate a lot of traffic movements in front of the door. Since these dark stores are often located in retail buildings, they don’t seek “a special establishment permit” required for ordinary supermarkets in the city when they generate extra traffic.
The decree issued by the city council says this new form of business falls between supermarkets and ordinary shops, making it difficult to regulate them. “The preparatory decision that the city council has now taken will put growth on hold for a year until we have made a new umbrella zoning plan for the entire city.”
“In just a year of operations in Amsterdam, we have built meaningful relationships with local partners and with over hundred thousand of our customers. In addition, we created over a thousand economic opportunities in the area. In recent months, we have had intense contact with local communities and our partners in order to come to solutions. Together we have looked at possibilities to limit any inconveniences there might be, which has led to various improvements in our operation. We have regularly tried to get in contact with the City Council since July last year, which to date has not taken place. We are very disappointed with their sudden decision on Thursday 27 January and are investigating what further steps we can take,” says a spokesperson for delivery company Gorillas.
Rotterdam follows on Amsterdam’s lead
It is not that common to see another city follow on a precedent but the city of Rotterdam has followed Amsterdam to block dark stores. The ban is on establishment of ‘dark stores’ for flash delivery services throughout the city.
The Rotterdam city council says the ban will be for a period of one year during which they will get a grip on the location of these dark stores. There is also a new zoning plan being drawn to steer the future establishment of such dark stores in the right direction.
“Everyone is familiar with it by now: taped windows, bicycles blocking the flow in a shopping street, noise at the supply, reckless cycling behaviour and nuisance from waiting bikers. There is nothing wrong with flash delivery per se, but how it goes in practice is bloody irritating,” says alderman Roos Vermeij.
“With this decision, we are putting things in order and we can better regulate the arrival of new dark stores. We give the flash deliverers their company, and their customers, a quickly delivered message. But above all, we give Rotterdammers nice shopping streets without nuisance.”
Impact on local economy
The decision by the city of Rotterdam and Amsterdam to put a one-year freeze on establishment of dark stores will severely impact the likes of Getir, Gorillas, Flink, Zapp, and others. The freeze could also wipe out bicycle couriers in these areas but these flash delivery companies are not giving up just yet.
Getir, as well as Germany-headquartered Gorillas and Flink, have announced plans to work with the city governments to resolve the problems. It is, however, not likely that the one year freeze will be cancelled as these cities face increased pressure from residents to act.
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