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In the days directly following a press conference by the Dutch government that first emphasized the seriousness of the situation, foot traffic in shopping streets declined by ** percent. The week after, the number of visitors decreased by ** percent more, compared to week ** (mid March). After this initial collective effort to stay at home, shopping streets slowly started welcoming more people in the following weeks. Reasons for this included the alleviation of coronavirus fear, the re-opening of shops, bars and restaurants, and more flexibility in the Dutch government's social distancing rules.

Coronavirus progression in the Netherlands

There was a correlation between the number of new COVID-19 cases and the amount of foot traffic on the streets in the Netherlands. This suggests that people were afraid to go outside because of the high amount of daily infections. The peak of the coronavirus outbreak occurred in weeks ** to **, during which foot traffic was also very low. After the busyness of shopping streets decreased rapidly in weeks ** and **, it first gained momentum again in week **, with foot traffic increasing by almost a quarter compared to week **. As the daily number of new infections declined steadily, more people dared to go back out on the streets.

Empty street on the boulevard of broken dreams

Contrary to most other European countries, the Netherlands never imposed a nationwide forced closure of all shops. Nonetheless, many stores closed on their own initiative, suffering from a massive decline in customers and struggling to operate amid tough social distancing rules. Contrary to retailers, restaurants and cafes were forced to close their doors until June. The disparity in government-imposed measures was strongly reflected by consumer spending figures: whereas supermarkets thrived, restaurants suffered. All in all, the combination of the closure of most stores and the complete lack of gastronomical and cultural destinations did not do the city center’s appeal much good.