Starblocked in Holland

Every where else in the world one can find Starbucks at many street corners but not in Holland. Actually, the one and only Starbucks Coffee shop in Holland can only be found at the Amsterdam Schipol airport. It’s a small take away bar with some tall tables to have your coffee standing. There are actually three Starbucks shops at the airport, this one at terminal two, another in terminal one and one after the custom. The two before the custom were only opened a few months ago. So in the past if one were to buy a drink at the airport you need to go on holiday.

Outside the airport there is also another one but in the Nike European HQ in Hilversum 30 km SE of Amsterdam. It is only opened for the Nike employees, apparently the American employers can’t live without Starbucks.

Why is there no Starbucks in places like Amsterdam? Their European headquarters are located in Holland but for some reason Starbucks never opened any stores in Holland. Some say that they didn’t have the agreement from the government. Holland is a coffee drinking nation. The people here love their drink and the coffee here is really great – real coffee. One has to try it out at the coffee shops. Once you developed the coffee taste bud, the Starbucks coffee is really bland in comparison. It’s hard to imagine a Starbucks shop to be swamped by the Dutch. The one at the airport was hardly doing any business.