Almost half of the people are refused when they ask if they can go to the toilet in a store, Peil.nl reports. This often means that when shopping, people go home earlier in order to be able to go to the toilet on time.
On average, customers go home 45 minutes earlier if they do not find a toilet while shopping, the AD writes. Sometimes urinating in public is even the last solution for a dire emergency.
For example, if you want to go to the toilet in Hoogeveen while shopping, you can often only go to the Hema. There is no public toilet. Stichting Gehandicapten Platform Hoogeveen recently urged the municipality to have more toilets.
In addition to convenience, the toilets also provide economic benefits. “British research shows that a 1 percent decrease in shopping time leads to a 1.2 percent loss in turnover,” says Ivo Thonon of the Maag Lever Darm Foundation. “If people go home 45 minutes earlier, that results in a 4 percent loss of turnover for the entire shopping street.”
According to the Toilet Alliance, a partnership of patient organisations, senior citizens’ associations and the Fietsersbond, there is a need for more public toilets. But should the costs of this be borne by municipalities, or should entrepreneurs themselves make a mess to keep their customers in the shopping street longer?