Albert Heijn

The local AH, with a few innocent bystanders. Yes, I went around the store taking pictures of bread and cheese like a weirdo for this post. At least I'm dedicated!

 I've mentioned this mysterious figure often in my posts, so you're probably wondering: who is he? There are in fact several Albert Heijns (i.e. Dutch businessmen) who founded the national supermarket chain, of which there are hundreds of locations. The OG Albert bought a grocery store in 1887, and it's been all downhill since then. His grandson and nephew were also called Albert Heijn, as if Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote the story. Now there is hardly a town in the country without the classic blue and white logo in a mini mall... almost as ubiquitous as the windmill!

I live hardly 8 minutes walk from a large Albert Heijn, affectionately referred to as "appie" or "a-ha" by the Dutchies. At the beginning of this year, I told myself that I'd diversify my shopping a little, and visit more than one store. That lasted about a week! Lesson is, you can't beat convenience. (and saving 20 cents on cheese isn't worth the extra distance to Aldi... yet) 

My fruit and vegetables all come from the city market, every Thursday and Saturday. This is much cheaper than buying produce in-store, and more fun! Specialty products, like fish sauce, spices, and rice-paper wrappings come from Bahaar Markt, the locally-owned Turkish grocery. (which demands its own post someday!) Aside from these, everything else comes from Albert. 

They say that the country is governed from Den Haag but day-to-day life is run from the AH headquarters in Zaandam. You can buy it all, from potatoes to plates to rat traps. With a market share of 35% it's the largest chain in the country- I think most Dutch never go a week without setting foot in one. 

Appie has a reputation as the fanciest and most expensive of all the Dutch supermarkets; and while it is pricier than Jumbo or Plus, it's not bad at all by American standards. I find that the quality is much higher than the others; and they're not paying me to write this. I can find dirt-cheap store brands there and fancy imported cookies, which is rather unique. So at the end of the day I find a nice balance between "cheapest option" and "deluxe truffle-aged gouda". 

Suggested product combos: take-n-bake meals and a big bottle of beer. They target all demographics!

Naturally, they have an impressive case of cheese, (impressive in size, not diversity. All Dutch cheese is a variation on gouda, just aged in different conditions for a different time) bread, and dairy. Especially dairy, which is cheap, quality no matter which product, and beloved by all bezoekers to the store. 

The bread is cheap, delicious, and often sold out by 3:00 PM. 

The dairy selection is... staggering. The specialty brands are all plays on the name Zaandam, so for dairy it's De Zaanse Hoeve, "The Zaanland Farm". 

The Dutchies love a good bargain and Appie loves to provide them: anything in orange that says BONUS is a hot item. (though like most chains, they'll just raise the price when an item is on sale, so the buyer ends up paying the same amount as they usually would) 

Here borrelnoten (lit. "drink nuts") are on sale, 3 for €4.00. An example of a good deal! I got smokey BBQ, paprika, and Asian flavors. 

Another major component of the store is the booze. Hard liquor is sold across the street, by a subsidiary of AH. I reckon they must have at least 10,000 liters on hand at any given moment. (2600 gallons)

Some foods are remarkably cheap; especially staples. Which suggests an underlying philosophy that everyone should be able to afford food, nice of them if it's true. Take the example of peanut butter, in a 600-gram / 1lb 5oz. jar. It's a pillar of the student diet: 

€1 equals $1.09 at the time of writing. Prijsfavoriet, "price favorite", denotes the cheapest store brands. 

They also have many Dutch classics; like ontbijtkoek, "breakfast cake", a spiced treat which is always pre-packaged and probably not as good as it looks. 

Flowers are also very cheap here, and if I'm not mistaken the Dutch are among the largest exporters and enjoyers of cut flowers in the world. 

To close I will tell the story of Gerrit Jan Heijn, the grandson of the original Albert. He was a prominent businessman and head of the family company, until his untimely abduction and murder in 1987. (this happened to the head of Heineken too! Well worth a read. It must be a Dutch thing) Despite the death of his captive, the criminal still received his ransom by pretending that poor Gerrit was alive. He was caught when he spent some of the ransom money... I guess they turn to a life of crime for lack of intelligence! Sorry to leave you with such a morbid story after writing about a supermarket, but Halloween was just last week.