Pastry chef Frank Smeets from pastry-lunchroom In de Kroon regularly sees the turnover in chocolate from Designer Outlet Roermond. This will happen if he is allowed to make another “target cake” on behalf of the brand village. “Then the Designer Outlet here in the city has met or exceeded pre-set goals. We then print those figures on chocolate. The management of the Outlet can then celebrate those great figures by eating that cake.”
Smeets is ambivalent about the success of the brand village: “It has certainly brought more people to the center of Roermond.” But according to the pastry chef, the limits to growth seem to have been reached. “On busy days, all canals and main roads in Roermond are completely congested. People from Roermond and the region avoid the city.” The hairdresser down the street at In de Kroon notices it from the phone calls on days like that. “Customers are canceling because they cannot reach the center.”
Next year it will be a quarter of a century since the Outlet in Roermond opened its doors. While these types of brand villages were established elsewhere, in Central Limburg the site of a former barracks was chosen directly north of the center of the episcopal city. This made the arrival attractive for the municipality: a significant number of visitors should be able to be enticed to also visit the existing shops and catering establishments. 15 to 20 percent indeed make that crossing.
Disney facades
The jobs in the Outlet could also help reduce unemployment in Roermond. McArthurGlen, the British company behind the Outlet, chose Roermond because of its location. Nearly 25 million people live within an hour and a half’s drive. People from the Ruhr area in particular come in droves.
In an information newspaper for the construction of the spotless ‘village’ with Disney-like facades, the municipality of Roermond wrote that profitable operation should be possible with four million visitors who would come to do shopping once or twice a year. But both the Outlet and the flows of people continued to grow. The brand village is now one of the largest attractions in the Netherlands, with eight million visitors per year.
And the main roads in and around Roermond were already referred to as “overloaded” in discussion papers from the municipality around 2000.
What if a major accident happens here? Can the emergency services still arrive on site?
Church village of Leeuwen
In Leeuwen, a church village near Roermond northeast of the outlet, the nuisance from shopping tourists is now “gigantic,” says Charlotte van Dijk-Pieters, chairman of the Leeuwen Village Committee. “When there is a traffic jam on the N280 from Germany on busy days, cars look for our streets as a shortcut. Sometimes the police do something and traffic controllers are deployed to turn cars back. But Google Maps then searches for new routes in no time, so they still appear and you eventually no longer get in or out of the village. What if a major accident happens here? Can the emergency services still arrive on the scene?”
Van Dijk-Pieters is frightened by the fact that the Outlet hints that it wants to grow to ten million and possibly even twelve million visitors per year. “That means at least 250,000 additional car movements.”
A full parking lot at Designer Outlet.
Photo John van Hamond
This Christmas holiday, the cars in and around the city are bumper to bumper again. Pastry chef Smeets sometimes tries to get into the heads of visiting Germans during that kind of hustle and bustle. “The traffic jam starts as soon as they cross the border. Then they have to drive endlessly in circles to find a parking space. And in the Outlet there are Efteling-like queues to enter shops. Why do people want that?”
Seizure of police capacity
Jonathan Felix, leader of the VVD in the municipal council in Roermond, points out the demand that the flow of visitors places on police capacity. “The staffing there is based on the 61,000 residents of the municipality and not on the millions of visitors to the Outlet.”
This year Felix wrote a discussion paper about further growth of Roermond’s most popular attraction. “Growth is fine in itself, but in addition to the economy and employment, you also have to look at the balance in a city and the quality of life. Roermond is more than a shopping center on the N280. Being a supporter of the free market does not absolve you from the task of acting as market master.”
With an annual turnover of 800 million euros, they could easily donate two euros per visitor. (…) And why not work on parking lots outside the city and shuttle services?
Felix finds the benefits and burdens unevenly distributed. “McArthurGlen pockets the profits and the investments in the much-needed infrastructure are the responsibility of the municipality and the province. With an annual turnover of 800 million euros, they could well give up two euros per visitor. That money can then be invested in roads and – to a smaller extent – in city marketing. And why not work on parking lots outside the city and shuttle services?”
The VVD member also wants to prevent the Outlet from greatly expanding its catering industry and from blurring the sector. From the start, the emphasis was on outlet brand clothing and residual fashion. “If more and more shops with different types of items are added, it will erode the supply in the city center.”
During a committee meeting last October, in which Felix’s discussion paper was discussed, the Roermond municipal council almost unanimously supported the discussion paper. Some parties just placed slightly different accents. Such as GroenLinks, which also considers the Outlet to be an exponent of unbridled and unsustainable purchasing behavior.
Felix also suggests the possibility of opening a number of Outlet stores in the old center. “The connection between the brand village and the monument-rich Roermond must be improved. This also applies to the uninviting tunnel under the N280 and the walk to it.”
Shoppers at the Designer Outlet on Whit Monday.
Photo Rob Engelaar/ANP
Largest party: clear way for Outlet
By far the largest party in Roermond, the Liberal People’s Party Roermond (LVR), founded by former VVD member Jos van Rey, which has eleven council seats, wants to give ample scope for the further development of the Outlet. “Thousands and thousands of people find work there. And many more indirectly,” says Van Rey, spokesperson on the file. “Anyone who wants to know what Roermond would be like without the Outlet should look at what it is like in the inner cities of places of the same size in Limburg. There it is dead water. Parking lots outside the city with shuttle services have already been investigated countless times. That is not an option. A German wants to be able to park in front of the door.”
Van Rey calls Felix’s note “illiberal”. “The entrepreneurs in Roermond now know what the VVD means to them. With a VVD like this, the Outlet would never have happened 25 years ago.”
Van Rey was at the time, on behalf of the VVD, the councilor who brought the project to Roermond. “After a while, every company takes stock of the future. The future vision of the Outlet now lies with the executive board of Roermond, the mayor and aldermen. They will think something about it. Only then will it be our turn as municipal council members. We are already allowed to view the Outlet’s part – under confidentiality.”
Felix believes that it is advisable to set frameworks. “And I used to be tambour maître in the brass band. So I like to be at the forefront.”
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