Amsterdam Puts Freeze on Opening 'Dark Stores' Used by Fast Grocery Companies
The city of Amsterdam announced on Thursday a one-year freeze on the opening of new “dark stores” - small distribution centres in residential areas or nearby shopping streets used by burgeoning fast grocery services such as Gorillas, Getir, and Flink.
With immediate effect, the Municipality of Amsterdam prohibits the establishment of new “dark shops” for flash delivery in the city. On Wednesday evening, the city council secretly accepted a college proposal to stop issuing flash delivery companies for at least a year to open these warehouses.
The rapid rise of food couriers on e-bikes has led to protests in several parts of Amsterdam in recent months. Speed cameras such as Gorillas, Getir and Flink, which promise customers to be at their doorstep within ten minutes, operate from warehouses often located in the middle of town. Couriers cause a nuisance here, as they constantly cycle back and forth, block the sidewalk with parked bicycles and wait for the next delivery – often until late at night.
“In Amsterdam as in all other major cities around Europe, there’s enormous growth in all these different companies that deliver your groceries within 10 minutes,” said a spokesperson for city councillor Marieke van Doornick, who proposed the ban.
However, “with those companies there are also coming a growing number of complaints from the direct neighbourhood.”
The spokesperson cited noise and scooter traffic arriving and leaving buildings, and the appearance of the stores, which are used for delivery only and not open to the public - and often have darkened windows to signal that.
The spokesperson said the city aimed to agree rules over the coming year that would determine where dark stores are allowed.
As of Jan. 14, there were 31 such stores in operation, almost all of which opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, the spokesperson said, adding: “There are probably more, it’s going really fast.”
Dark stores also put quality of life under pressure, according to the municipality. The windows are taped up and they serve exclusively as a warehouse: you can’t buy anything there. “Dark shops generally do not contribute positively to the representativeness of the environment,” writes alderwoman Marieke van Doorninck (spatial planning, GroenLinks) to the city council.
Dark store specific policy
Amsterdam’s moratorium came into effect immediately on Thursday to prevent flash deliverers from signing new leases at the last minute. Van Doorninck wants to develop a specific policy this year to regulate the arrival of dark stores, as is also the case for supermarkets. Until now, the city council could not take any action against new warehouses through the regular route of a zoning plan. In exchange for The Parool says Van Doorninck that dark shops “will not be allowed in residential areas in the future under any circumstances”.
Thirty dark stores have been opened in Amsterdam since last summer. In neighborhoods such as De Pijp and De Baarsjes, residents have rallied against nuisance and even intimidation by couriers, traffic and noise pollution from continuous loading and unloading and blocking of the sidewalk.
‘Very disappointed’
A ban that takes effect immediately is considered a serious administrative measure. Previously, the Amsterdam city executive had twice used such a “preparatory decision” to prevent the establishment of new tourist shops in the city center.
In a first reaction, Gorillas said he was “surprised” by the “sudden decision” of the municipality. “We are very disappointed and will look at what further steps we can take.”
Flink, with 10 dark stores in Amsterdam, said the company had planned to open more and was disappointed by the decision.
“We have fantastic feedback from our customers,” it said in a statement, adding that in addition to grocery delivery it also distributed products made by local businesses.
Berlin-based Gorillas said in a reaction that it had been in talks with the city council and was surprised and disappointed by the decision.
“In just a year of operations in Amsterdam, we have built meaningful relationships with local partners and customers and created hundreds of economic opportunities,” it said.
Turkey’s Getir said the decision “undeniably has a large impact on our employees and the large number of customers who use our service on a daily basis.”
It said it was still evaluating the decision and how to react.
Updated Story:
Amsterdam has decided to ban fast grocery delivery firms from setting up any more distribution points in residential areas after a surge in complaints from locals about noise and congestion.
Fast delivery firms pledge to get essential supplies to their customers within 10 minutes, and that means city centre delivery centres are key. Known as dark stores, the distribution points can often be identified by the blackout windows and the queues of delivery bikes and mopeds outside.
Amsterdam city council has now agreed to measure the impact of dark stores on the local population and to spend the next year deciding what conditions should be attached to their development.
‘This pause has been introduced before the increase in dark stores gets out of hand,’ city planning chief Marieke van Doorninck said.
Leiden is also looking into taking similar steps because of both noise and traffic problems.
The delivery companies in Amsterdam told broadcaster NOS they were surprised and disappointed by the city’s action. ‘
We are looking into what steps we can take,’ a spokesman for Gorillas told the broadcaster.
The number of people using fast grocery delivery services such as Gorillas and Flink more than tripled in the second half of 2021, a survey by market researcher Kantar found.
