Albert Heijn is the largest supermarket chain in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

with a

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...

of 34.8% in 2020. It was founded in 1887, and has been part of

Ahold Delhaize Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. (in Dutch literally "Royal Ahold Delhaize"), commonly known as Ahold Delhaize, is a Dutch multinational retail and wholesaling company. Its name comes from a merger between Ahold (Dutch) and Delhaize Group (Belg ...

since 2016.

History

The chain was founded on 27 May 1887, when Albert Heijn bought a grocery store from his father Jan Heijn in Oostzaan. In the following years, Heijn opened other locations in several cities and in 1899, he opened a central warehouse in Zaandam. From 1895, Heijn started roasting his own brand of coffee in a laundry room in his Oostzaan location and in 1910, several other self-produced items were added, including confectionery, cakes and pastry. Until 1913, these products were produced in an old town house in Zaandam, but the company built a professional factory on this spot in 1913. In 1920, all enterprises were combined in the ''Maatschappij tot Exploitatie der Fabrieken en Handelszaken''. Anton Jurgens, one of the founders of

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

, took a 50% share within the new company. These shares were bought back by the family Heijn in 1927. On 29 April 1920, Albert Heijn transferred control of the company to his sons Gerrit Heijn and Jan Heijn, and his son-in-law Johan Hille. Albert Heijn stayed on as president of the board. In 1941, Maurits Ligtenstein, Albert Heijn's Purchasing Director, had to go into hiding due to his Jewish heritage. Separated from his wife, he was helped by Gerrit Heijn. After the war he was reunited with his wife and son Piet Ligtenstein, who was able to tell the story of his family. The chain went public in 1948, and underwent two major changes in the 1950s. The first change was in 1952, with the introduction of their first self-service store and the second change was in 1955, with the opening of their first supermarket. The chain could become the largest within the Netherlands via several acquisitions. Notable (partial) acquisitions were Van Amerongen (1950), Simon de Wit (1972) and

C1000 C1000 was a Dutch supermarket chain. Founded on 1 April 1977, the chain had 500 stores in 2012, with a market share of 12.1%. The supermarket chain operated in a rather unusual manner for supermarkets in the Netherlands, using the franchise syste ...

(2008 and parts in 2012). Ahold NV was founded on August 27, 1973 and Albert Heijn became part of it. The new construction made it easier for Albert Heijn's new parent company to enter the foreign market. In October of the same year, Etos was acquired, a number of stores were converted into Albert Heijn and the rest continued as a drugstore within Ahold. At the beginning of 2003, Albert Heijn saw its market share fall sharply: 22.8 percent against 24.7 percent a year earlier. In 2007, the company crossed the ocean with the opening of a franchise store in

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coa ...

, this shop remained open until 2016, when it was changed to a different brand. The company entered the Belgian market in 2011, with the opening of a store in Brasschaat. Despite the merger of Ahold and Delhaize, Albert Heijn remained active in Belgium and currently has 60 stores. After Curaçao and Belgium the company entered the German market with their AH To Go formula. This venture ended in 2018.

Simon de Wit

Simon de Wit Store in Heemskerk in 1969 Simon de Wit was a large family-owned chain of

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...

s in the Netherlands. The company was founded by Simon de Wit (1852–1934), who after his father's death in 1867 started a grocery store from his parental house in Wormerveer. In 1888 he opened the first branch in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

and by 1900 he ran stores at 30 different locations and owned a central warehouse in Zaandam.Short history
(in Dutch) In 1954 the opening of the 150th store was celebrated. In 1970, when Simon de Wit's grandson Simon was in charge, a fire destroyed the central warehouse in Zaandam. Soon after, Albert Heijn, which also originated in the Zaanstreek, showed interest in a

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...

and in 1973 Simon de Wit merged with Albert Heijn, with all employees retaining their jobs. All remaining shops took on the name of the latter.

Formulas

Albert Heijn

This formula is most used throughout the Netherlands and Belgium and is their regular store format. Since 2018, the company began to rollout the concept ''Echt Vers'' in which the stores would be remodelled to offer 10-15% more fresh produce.

AH To Go

In 1999, the chain developed a new formula for a convenience store on request of the

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and t ...

, the railway company would become a franchisee and opened the first store on Station 's-Hertogenbosch. The formula got its current name in 2001, and specialises in products that customers need on their commute. Since 2019, the company is testing a new version of the formule without staff and cash registers. The customer scans their debit card and cameras register the customer and the items that are picked, after the customer leaves the right amount is deducted from their account. The new concept and technology was tested in a mobile unit that has been placed at the headquarters of Ahold Delhaize and Schiphol.

AH XL

Since 2002, the company operates several hypermarkets with a larger variety of products in both food and non-food. Within the store there are also several chefs preparing take-away.

Albert Heijn Online

The company started testing delivery in 1999, with the Albert Heijn Thuisservice, which was renamed Albert.nl in 2001. Via this channel customers could purchase their groceries, but also products from sister-companies

Etos Etos B.V., trading as Etos, was founded in 1919 by Philips to create a grocery and drugstore where Philips employees could benefit from lower priced products than the average stores. "Etos" is an abbreviation for the Dutch words: ''Eendracht, To ...

and Gall & Gall. The Albert brand was discontinued in 2014, and the delivery service was integrated in the Albert Heijn brand.

Organisation

Since 1899, the chain is headquartered in Zaandam, their parent company is also located here. The chain operates six distribution centres in

Nieuwegein Nieuwegein () is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is bordered on the north by the city of Utrecht, the provincial capital. It is separated from Vianen to the south by the river Lek and borders on IJsselstein in the ...

Geldermalsen Geldermalsen () is a town and former municipality in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. Town of Geldermalsen The town centre of Geldermalsen contains a two-aisled Gothic church dating from the 15th century, with a Romanesque towe ...

, Zaandam, Tilburg,

Pijnacker Pijnacker () is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is bordered Zoetermeer to the north, by Nootdorp to the northwest, by Delfgauw to the southwest, by Rotterdam (specifically Overschie) to the south and by Berkel en Rodenrijs to t ...

and

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

. It also operates seven "Home Shop Centers" in

Almere Almere () is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km to the east of Amsterdam (as the crow flies) across the IJmeer. Bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde, the municipality of Almere compr ...

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

, De Meern,

, Oosterhout and Bleiswijk.

Trivia

* From 1927, the chain was allowed to call itself ''Purveyor to the Royal Household''. In addition, Ahold was awarded the ''Royal Predicate'' in 1987, due to the 100th anniversary of Albert Heijn. King Willem-Alexander granted permission in 2016, that the merged company Ahold Delhaize could also continue to use the predicate. * The current Albert Heijn logo has existed since 1965, and is a design by James Pilditch and John Harris of agency AID. The logo has been enclosed with a blue house since 2003. * The company introduced the ''Bonuskaart'' in 1998, which gave cardholders a discount on selected products. The program was changed in 2013, and with their new card customers could also receive a personal discount. * In 2007, the supermarket founded the Albert Heijn Foundation together with suppliers of fresh produce. It mainly invests in local projects in the field of housing, education and health. The AH Foundation works closely with ICCO and FairMatch Support to select and realize projects in areas such as water supplies and education. * Albert Heijn published stickers for WhatsApp and iMessage in cooperation with Sticker Maker in August, 2021.

References

External links

Official website

Official Belgium
{{Authority control Ahold Delhaize Convenience stores Retail companies of the Netherlands Supermarkets of the Netherlands Retail companies established in 1887 1887 establishments Companies established in 1887 Companies based in North Holland Companies of the Netherlands Dutch brands Oostzaan Dutch companies established in 1887 Supermarkets Zaandam