A new decennium has arrived, but seldom it was more difficult to predict in which direction we are heading the coming ten years. There are challenges
galore, in the interior as well.
What is clear, is how different elements will have to be reconciled with one another. To get straight to the point: how to match consumerism with sustainability and care for our planet?
It looks like this is going to be a decennium in which mainly black and white contrasts will play the first fiddle. On the one hand the globalization is proceeding faster than ever, but on the other hand there is a tendency of more and more retreating into ourselves. We notice unmistakable, strong regional movements, while the time when hyper-individualism was an insult has long since evolved into a normal way of being.
The retailers among us certainly noticed this in 2019. They see people sometimes shopping on the other side of the planet, and sometimes rediscovering
what is local right around the corner. In my native language (Dutch) a newly coined word was even elected word of the year: ‘winkelhieren’. Meaning: shopping + local.
Anyway, we hope that ‘winkelhieren’ does not turn out to be a mere fad but will become a fixed value in the interior as well. For some things we will resort (to a limited extent) to what could be called ‘winkeldaaren’ (far distance shopping), for other more specific things we will be looking closer to home,
to a specialist.
We just have to wait and see what happens. Meanwhile, we have enjoyed some restful days, celebrating the end of what was and what is to come. Let’s propose a toast to a great 2020!
Jan Hoffman
