Blog /Brandage in .nl

July 03, 2011 17:16 +0000  |  Netherlands 7

Eichholtz

I know that it's been a while since my last update, and I'm sorry about that. I think that Twitter is slowly killing my appetite for blogging, but I promise to keep this one open for good, updating from time to time.

I thought that I might take a minute to talk about branding. It may not be obvious to those of you who haven't tried to build a life in a foreign country, but product brands play a big role in how your life works.

I'm one of millions of men who literally spent years looking for the one right stick of deoderant, and the toothpaste that tasted like it was doing a good job. I know the best stores in which to buy everything from towels to shoes to underwear, to hard drives, and this knowledge took A Very Long Time to accumulate.

None of that information is useful here.

Suddenly I'm faced with a myriad of dermatological choices: deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, hair gel, soap and shaving cream: you buy one for €5 and it dries your skin, another makes everything oily. It's trial and error of everything I've ever purchased, and it's all in a foreign language too.

It gets especially exciting when you introduce pharmaceuticals (the leagal-in-Canada, over-the-counter kind). That pill you used for hayfever? Nope. The only brand of cough syrup that works for you? No one here has even heard of it. Sometimes you get lucky and the brand names are the same on one or two boxes, but the logo is different, and there's a good chance that the dosage/effect is different too. Differing legislation and markets means that products you love in one country might be unavailable in another, or worse, they're available, but taste/act different.

For example, Oreos exist here, but they taste like dust, and Reese's Peanutbutter cups are unheard of. Kellog's Corn Flakes pretty much taste the same, but the variety of cereals I can find in the local grocery stores is limited to 6 choices.

Some days it feels as if no one here has ever heard the cautionary tales of what would happen if the Big Scary Communists ever took over: abolition of consumer choice, one supplier for everything... it's not quite that bad, but let me tell you, Albert Heijn completely dominates the grocery market here, and strangely, the locals seem to think it's the Best Store in the World. Contradicting them on this point of view is not advised.

But yesterday, was a Great Day. Yesterday, I was introduced to a tiny little shop in Amsterdam called Eichholtz. It's a privately-owned store that sells imported brands of food... the stuff unavailable in the Netherlands for whatever reason. There must have been twenty kinds of breakfast cereal there, and another twenty brands of chocolate bars. Peanutbutter, popcorn, and all sorts of stuff. It was glorious. I bought a tiny box of Golden Grahams (American), two cans of A&W root beer (Canadian), and one 3-cup package of Reese's peanutbutter cups (UK). Total cost: €15! Yes, I was that desperate.

Christina, my Greek/British friend who introduced me to this wonderful little shop, tried some of all three purchases and approved. Now if only I can get more people on board, maybe, just maybe I can create demand... that'd work right?

Comments

noreen
3 Jul 2011, 9:04 p.m.  | 

you sound like you need a care package.... hen you visit in nov, you can also stock up!!

Theresa
4 Jul 2011, 11:35 a.m.  | 

Are you sure the Netherlands needs all of our unhealthy north American cereals and junk food items? Also, I am pretty sure that try have dine lots f psychological studies that have shown that more chic beyond say 2 or 3 options doesn't make people happier.
finding new products you like is part of the fun of living abroad!

Daniel
4 Jul 2011, 11:46 a.m.  | 

Heh, well no, it doesn't *need* them, but after a few months of eating the very same thing every day for breakfast, those Lucky Charms are looking mighty tasty... and I hate Lucky Charms :-)

With regard to those psychological studies you mentioned, I'd challenge any shrink to eat the same three things every day for a year and then claim that options don't improve on happiness.

About finding new products I like though, you're right, that can be fun, but my concern is more about finding products that work for me. My hair feels terrible all the time these days, because the stuff I brought from home that worked doesn't play nice with the water here, and the shampoos I've found here (so far) don't like my hair. It's a trial & error system with limited options that can be exasperating.

Roy
6 Jul 2011, 12:50 p.m.  | 

I am sensing a 2nd suitcase coming back with you from a BC wedding.

Karen
22 Aug 2011, 4:47 a.m.  | 

Now you understand Chinese people and T&T.

Expat Julia
15 Jan 2012, 11:07 a.m.  | 

Oh I'm with you on this one! Friends want to know what is different.. well, spending half an hour trying to translate the back of three shampoo bottles is what is different. Being mentally exhausted at the end of a shopping trip is different. Cycling through a city only to find you don't understand the road signs is different!

All good fun though! Have you tried @britishfoodBCS on twitter? Their website looks like it has a lots of non-dutch fares :-)

Daniel Quinn
16 Jan 2012, 9:05 p.m.  | 

I haven't heard of them, but I'm a BIG fan of Einholz near Leidseplein, and then there's the market in Schiphol airport.

'Course I just spent €10 for a tiny box of Life cereal the other day...

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