A guide to the DUTCH supermarkets | everything you can find in the NETHERLANDS

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.

French is second because it is spoken in Belgium (Wallonia in the south), most products are developped for the Benelux as a whole

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 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.

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 ;-;

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))

Fun fact, there are only about 3 peanutbutter factories in the netherlands that produce almost all brands found in supermarkets.

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.

I didn't think that a video about grocery stores could be so wholesome and entertaining, I loved it!

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.

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 :)

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.

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.

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.

You are a true OG if you remember Super de Boer and Emté Also Dirk has a walk in fridge

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)

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).

I love how much effort you put in your videos! Keep going!! ♥️

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 ... :pride-flower-rainbow-heart:

Don't know why I'm watching this video as a Dutch person myself but I loved the random cameo of my university