Albert Heijn

“The everyday affordable, the special accessable”,  which is the mission of Albert Heijn. It’s exactly what the founder of our company had in mind. On handbills he printed the the following: “Fine Quality, Great Turnover, Small Profits. Poor and Rich can do their shopping with me. ” Besides special products and actions, we are also an affordable shop for everyday shopping. That we underline with our mission.
History Albert Heijn
The Albert Heijn stores of today are emerged from a small grocery store that once stood in Oostzaan. It all started when the 21-year-old Albert Heijn took over the shop from his father in 1887.

Expansion and renewal
The young Albert soon expanded his business with a branch in Purmerend and began selling homemade cookies and roasted coffee. For a wide choice in his stores, he also expanded his entire product range.
In 1910 Albert Heijn had more than 10 branches. Another 8 years later, Albert Heijn made the important step by selling articles under his own name. Albert Heijn grew in the subsequent years continously and came frequently with new products and more service.

First supermarket
In 1952 Albert Heijn opened the first self-service store in the Netherlands. A revolution: customers were not served one by one, but they could with a basket along the shelves by themselves. Not long after, another five Albert Heijn supermarkets were opened. Albert Heijn eventually grew into the largest grocer in the Netherlands with the current figure of more than 700 shops and a webshop.

Reliable, quality and service
The enthusiasm of Albert Heijn and his principles reliability, quality and service, were the basis for the success story that led to the Albert Heijn supermarket chain today. And till this day we still have these very important principles.

A store for everyone
The wish of our founder to be a shop for everyone, is a guideline for us. Once he said: “Rich and poor should be able to do their shopping with me.” We still stand behind that statement. Albert Heijn is for everyone: a shop where the everyday affordable and the special accessable is.

Source: Albert Heijn website