Patterns of retail location and urban form in Amsterdam in the mid-eighteenth century

Urban History

Volumn 38, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 24-47

  Lesger, Clé ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ECONOMIC HISTORY; EIGHTEENTH CENTURY; HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; LOCATION DECISION; LOCATION THEORY; RETAILING; SHOPPING ACTIVITY; SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS; URBAN ECONOMY; URBAN HISTORY;

AMSTERDAM [NORTH HOLLAND]; NETHERLANDS; NORTH HOLLAND;

EID: 79960782102     PISSN: 09639268     EISSN: 14698706     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0963926811000022     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. A relatively good deal of attention is paid to patterns of location in C. Bruneel and L. Delporte, 'Approche socio-professionelle de la population bruxelloise en 1783', Revue du Nord, 79 (1997), 463-94;
2. C. Bruneel, 'La localisation du commerce et de l'artisanat à Bruxelles au milieu du XVIIIe siècle', in P. Guignet (ed.), Le peuple des villes dans l'Europe du Nord-Ouest (fin du Moyen Âge - 1945) (Rijsel, 2000), 167-91;
3. W. Lefebvre, 'Het geografische inplantingspatroon van voedingswinkels in Leuven tijdens de tweede helft van de negentiende eeuw (1860-1908)', Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis, 33 (2003), 91-127,
4. and in L. van Aert, 'Leven of overleven? Winkelhouden in crisistijd: De Antwerpse meerseniers, ca.1648 - ca.1748' (Ph.D. thesis, University of Antwerp, 2007).
5. See, for example, J.B. Jefferys, Retail Trading in Britain 1850-1950. A Study of Trends in Retailing with Special Reference to the Development of Co-operative, Multiple Shop and Department Store Methods of Trading (Cambridge, 1954).
6. T.S.Willan, The Inland Trade. Studies in English Internal Trade in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Manchester, 1976), is one of the first studies that casts doubt on the myth that the retail industry was poorly developed in early modern cities.
7. Also of great interest in this area is H.-C. Mui and L.H. Mui, Shops and Shopkeeping in Eighteenth-Century England (London, 1989
8. See Mui's introduction for citations from the older historiography. For more recent studies, see, amongst others, J. Stobart, 'City centre retailing in late nineteenth- and early twentiethcentury Stoke-on-Trent: Structures and processes', in J. Benson and L. Ugolini (eds.), A Nation of Shopkeepers. Five Centuries of British Retailing (London and New York, 2003), 155-78, 156.
9. See, for example, the city maps with shopping streets in M.T. Wild and G. Shaw, 'Trends in urban retailing: The British experience during the nineteenth century', Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 70 (1979), 35-44
10. B. Blondé, Een economie met verschillende snelheden. Ongelijkheden in de opbouw en de ontwikkeling van het Brabantse stedelijke netwerk (ca.1750-ca.1790) (Brussels, 1999), figures 3.8 and 3.10.
11. Explanations of these concepts and the accompanying location theories can be found in virtually all economic-geographic reference books. Both concepts are developed in the framework of theories about the location of economic activities at regional and superregional levels. Not until around 1960 did scholars apply these theories and concepts to research on the retail trade within cities (P.T. Kivell and G. Shaw, 'The study of retail location', in J.A. Dawson (ed.), Retail Geography (London, 1980), 95-155, 109. Good introductions to research into the location of shops can be found in Dawson (ed.), Retail Geography, and in K. Jones and J. Simmons, The Retail Environment (London and New York, 1990).
12. Normally, these concepts apply to goods and services, but in this study I will not consider the location of services.
13. For this reason, convenience goods retailers strive for a monopoly position in one (geographical) area of the market (see R.L. Nelson, The Selection of Retail Locations (New York, 1958), 54).
14. After World War II when refrigerators and private cars became commonplace on a large scale in European households and supermarkets made huge inroads, the position of the traditional neighbourhood shop became threatened; over the last few decades, these shops have been vanishing rapidly from the urban landscape.
15. This greater turnover is, in part, a consequence of the fact that the concentration of shops in an area of limited size gives consumers the ability to buy a number of goods during a single excursion. On such a 'multiple-purpose trip', travel costs are spread over a number of products and more money remains to purchase goods.
16. R.L. Davies and D.J. Bennison, 'Retailing in the city centre: The characters of shopping streets', Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 69 (1978), 270-85, 271
17. and also see R.L. Davies, 'Structural models of retail distribution. Analogies with settlement and urban land-use theories', Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 57 (1972), 59-82, and his 'complex model' of retail shop locations on page 75.
18. In 1958 Nelson also observed that in addition to 'accessibility to the resident population', there are other forms of accessibility, and that these also generate specific patterns of location. Nelson, The Selection of Retail Locations, 45.
19. See for instance P.N. Balchin and J.L. Kieve, Urban Land Economics (London and Basingstoke, 1977), ch. 2.
20. However, it should be added that simple bid rent models, in which real estate prices decline as the distance from the centre increases, are inadequate. In general, there is a dip, but the model does not take into account the fact that in cities advantageous locations - and related real estate prices - can vary dramatically over short distances. Compare H. Carter, The Study of Urban Geography (London, 1972), ch. 9.
21. For the importance of local circumstances, also see Stobart, 'City centre retailing in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Stoke-on-Trent: Structures and processes', 174.
22. W. van den Berg,M.H.D. van Leeuwen and C. Lesger, 'Residentiële segregatie in Hollandse steden. Theorie, methodologie en empirische bevindingen voor Alkmaar en Amsterdam, 16e-19e eeuw', Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis, 24 (1998), 402-36, 430-6.
23. See also H. Diederiks, Een stad in verval. Amsterdam omstreeks 1800: Demografisch, economisch, ruimtelijk, (Amsterdam, 1982), 336-58
24. and T. Levie and H. Zantkuyl, Wonen in Amsterdam in de 17de en 18de eeuw (Purmerend, 1980), ch. 4.
25. This concentration was partly a consequence of the desire to remain near important facilities like synagogues. Amsterdam Jews were not required to live in the Jewish Quarter.
26. For the maps I used the oldest land registrymapfromroughly 1830. Apart fromdemolition, rebuilding and renovation of individual buildings between 1742 and 1830, no major changes took place in Amsterdam's municipal fabric.
27. In sketching the markets, Imade use of the overview provided by J.Wagenaar, Amsterdam, in zyne opkomst, aanwas, geschiedenissen, voorregten, koophandel, gebouwen, kerkenstaat, schoolen, schutterye, gilden en regeeringe (Amsterdam, 1760-67), fourth part, first book, ch. 1
28. and R. Kistemaker, 'Functiekaarten en de analyse van de economische en sociale structuur van Amsterdam in de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw', in M. Jonker, L. Noordegraaf and M.l Wagenaar (eds.), Van stadskern tot stadsgewest. Stedebouwkundige geschiedenis van Amsterdam (Amsterdam, 1984), 101-12, 110-11. The exact location of all markets is not known.
29. The levy is discussed at length inW.F.H. Oldewelt (ed.), Kohier van de Personeele Quotisatie te Amsterdam over het jaar 1742 (Amsterdam, 1945).
30. Markets are reported in passing but their role in the supply of consumer goods falls outside the scope of this research. In Antwerp, shops had considerably strengthened their position vis-à-vis markets as early as the first half of the seventeenth century (B. Blondé and H. Greefs, 'Werk aan de winkel. De Antwerpse meerseniers: Aspecten van de kleinhandel en het verbruik in de 17de en 18de eeuw', Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis, 84 (2001), 207-29, 223, compare withWild and Shaw, 'Trends in urban retailing: The British experience during the nineteenth century', 35).
31. In working out the verponding numbers, I made use of the renumbering registers available at the Amsterdam city archives. I would like to thank Mr Ernst (Amsterdam city archives) formaking available a digital copy of renumbering register 1853 and the already completed section of renumbering files 1733-805.
32. C. Lesger, 'Stagnatie en stabiliteit. De economie tussen 1730 en 1795', inW. Frijhoff and M. Prak (eds.), Geschiedenis van Amsterdam. Zelfbewuste stadstaat 1650-1813, II-2 (Amsterdam, 2005), 219-65, 259, table 13.
33. Oldewelt (ed.), Kohier van de Personeele Quotisatie, part 1, 12
34. Diederiks, Een stad in verval, 312. According to Wagenaar, Amsterdam, in zyne opkomst, fourth part, first book, 465, the bakers' guild had over 400 members at the start of the eighteenth century. Bakers, however, did not earn huge amounts: According to the records of the Personele Quotisatie, over 65% earned no more than 800 guilders per year.
35. There is no indication that the number of bakers per 1,000 inhabitants was much greater or smaller in 1742 than it had been in other years. Confectioners are not included in the number of 451 bakers registered in the Personele Quotisatie and consequently they are not mapped in Figure 2.
36. I have used modern street names. Using eighteenth-century street names, these numbers would be slightly higher since a number of streets were not yet merged then.
37. I have been able to determine with sufficient certainty the location of 438 of the 451 bakeries.
38. A comparable distribution of bakers in New York in 1840 can be found in A.R. Pred, The Spatial Dynamics of U.S. Urban-Industrial Growth, 1800-1914. Interpretive and Theoretical Essays (Cambridge, MA, 1966), 206.
39. In total, Nieuwendijk had 265 properties, or, more precisely, 265 built properties recorded in the registers from the 1733 verponding (a general tax on real estate).
40. I calculated shop density by relating the number of shops to the number of verponding numbers per street for all streets with at least five shops. In determining the number, I benefited greatly from using the digital file of the 1733 verponding register whichMr Ernst (city archive Amsterdam) made available to me.
41. SeeKistemaker, 'Functiekaarten en de analyse van de economische en sociale structuur van Amsterdam in de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw', 108, and also C. Lesger, 'Intraregional trade and the port system in Holland, 1400-1700', in K. Davids and L. Noordegraaf (eds.), The Dutch Economy in the Golden Age (Amsterdam, 1993), 185-217.
42. Clothing accessories include French shops and shops selling fancy goods, thread and ribbon, gloves, hats, lace, buttons, wigs and fans.
43. L. van Nierop, 'De handeldrijvende middenstand te Amsterdam in 1742', Jaarboek Amstelodamum, 45 (1953), 193-230, 209-10. Nuremburg shops were also established on the Warmoesstraat in the seventeenth century.
44. Van Nierop counts 17 bookshops on the Kalverstraat, but I amassuming that the one book printer was also a shop (ibid., 214).
45. Compare Ilja van Damme, Verleiden en verkopen. Antwerpse kleinhandelaars en hun klanten in tijden van crisis (ca. 1648 - ca. 1748) (Amsterdam, 2007), ch. 4.
46. For more on shopping as primarily a nineteenth-century phenomenon, see J.H. Furnée, 'Bourgeois strategies of distinction. Leisure culture and the transformations of urban space: The Hague, 1850-1890', in S. Gunn and R. J. Morris (eds.), Identities in space. Contested terrains in the western city since 1850, (Aldershot, 2001) 204-27; J.H. Furnée, '"Om te winkelen, zoo als het in de residentie heet". Consumptiecultuur en stedelijke ruimte in Den Haag 1850-1890', Jaarboek voor Vrouwenstudies, 22 (2002), 28-55.
47. J.P. Farret, A.G. Verster and J.H. van Swinden, Rapport over de telling van het volk van Amsterdam. Overgegeven aan de representanten van hetzelve Volk op den 20sten October 1795 (Amsterdam, 1795).
48. H. Schmal, 'De overheid als verkeersregelaar. Ongelukken en opstoppingen', in W.F. Heinemeijer and M.F. Wagenaar (eds.), Amsterdam in kaarten. Verandering van de stad in vier eeuwen cartografie (Antwerp, 1987), 56-9.
49. For the construction of the canal ring and the Jordaan, see B. Bakker, 'De zichtbare stad 1578-1813', in W. Frijhoff and M. Prak (eds.), Geschiedenis van Amsterdam, 17-101.
50. In 1795 only 3.6% of the city's population lived in this area (calculations based on Farret, Verster and Van Swinden, Rapport over de telling van het volk van Amsterdam). Note the small number of bakeries in this neighbourhood indicated in Figure 2.
51. M.F.Wagenaar, 'De Plantage.Wonen in een lustoord', inHeinemeijer andWagenaar (eds.), Amsterdam in kaarten, 132-5.
52. Komenijen were shops that sold fatty goods, like bacon, ham and butter, as well as beer, barley groats, beans and flour. The assortment of goods also included candles, scrubbing brushes, wrapping paper and other household products (J. van Lennep and J. ter Gouw, De uithangteekens, in verband met geschiedenis en volksleven beschouwd, deel 1 (n.p., 1868), 116-17).
53. For the situation in Brussels, see Bruneel and Delporte, 'Approche socio-professionelle', in particular illustration 4, and Bruneel, 'La localisation du commerce', 179.
54. See, for example, the lists of creditors in the Amsterdam city archive, archive number 5072 (Insolvency Chamber), inv.nrs. 3480 and 3949. The question of whether the Amsterdam elite also purchased consumption goods elsewhere (The Hague, Brussels, Paris?) falls outside the scope of this article and cannot be answered based on the source material studied here. Such shopping patterns have been noted for The Hague's elite, however (thanks to Mrs Wijsenbeek, University of Leiden, for this information).
55. A discussion of the principles operative in the selection of a retail site in Nelson, The Selection of Retail Locations, 52-5.
56. I amvery grateful toMrAbrahamse (Rijksdienst voor hetCultureel Erfgoed),who supplied me with this information.
57. Jacques Savary, De volmaakte koopman, zynde een naaukeurige onderrechting van alles wat den Inlandschen en Uitlandschen koophandel betreft [enzovoort] in 't Nederduitsch gebracht door G. van Broekhuizen (Amsterdam, 1683), 283-4. This is a translation of Jacques Savary, Le parfait négociant, ou instruction générale pour ce qui regarde le commerce des marchandises de France & des pays étrangers first published in Paris in 1675. The French edition was republished throughout the eighteenth century and many copies have survived in Dutch libraries, indicating that it was probably widely known.
58. I have used the Dutch translation first published in 1683. In the French edition it says 'car il y a aussi des endroits plus propres pour de certains négoces les uns que les autres. Enfin, il est certain que c'est une chose bien avantageuse à un Marchand que d'être bien placé' (Jacques Savary, Le parfait négociant, ou instruction générale pour ce qui regarde le commerce des marchandises de France & des pays étrangers (Geneva, 1752), book 4, ch. 3, 290).
59. See, for example H. Noordkerk (ed.), Handvesten ofte privilegiën ende octroyen; mitsgaders willekeuren, costumen, ordonnantiën en handelingen der stad Amsterdam etc. (Amsterdam, 1748), fifth part, fourth book, chs. 43 and 44.
60. See ibid., second part, ninth book, ch. 1, for the building codes, and third part, fourth book for the fire codes. The building codes are also extensively dealt with in J.C. Breen, 'De verordeningen op het bouwen te Amsterdam vóór de negentiende eeuw', Jaarboek Amstelodamum, 6 (1908), 107-48.
61. Wagenaar, Amsterdam, in zyne opkomst, third part, first book, 39-41.
62. Noordkerk (ed.), Handvesten ofte privilegiën, third part, first book, 771-5, item 5.
63. Wagenaar, Amsterdam, in zyne opkomst, third part, first book, 40-1.
64. Only chandlers, who also belonged to the retailers' guild, had stricter rules and had to pay higher amounts (ibid., fourth part, first book, 437).
65. Amsterdam city archive, archive 366 (guilds), inv.nr. 564.
66. Although this article does not test it, the complex model discussed by Davies also seems to have historical relevance.