Niehland Reil 4,0 12 Apr 2026 Google

I have a thing about industrial estates, especially when they're under development. Once fully developed, I usually accept their presence. Industrial estates are a nasty outgrowth of the free market: they come at the expense of the Dutch natural environment, which is under severe pressure, are an aesthetic disaster, and look so desolate during their development phase that I sometimes have to pinch myself to see if I'm actually the one wandering around there, looking for an address on Parelweg that Maps or Tom don't (yet) know about. While it's certainly fine that a completely failed and misplaced industrial estate like Overstad is finally being demolished, the motivation for this relocation is flawed. Overstad, after all, needs to be... Becoming a residential area is practical, says the squinty-eyed development officer with the ironed crease in his jeans, a pathetic shadow of a "missed opportunity person" who, of course, claims to only "implement" prescribed policies. However, people want to live outside the city, enjoying freedom and nature, and especially with space around them. Unfortunately, industrial estates are being built in precisely those locations... The "Boekelermeer" has already seen another expansion for some time now, which you can see from your car on the highway. Alkmaar is dutifully building the industrial strip in the making along the A9 motorway towards Beverwijk, and Beverwijk has made a sprint north towards Alkmaar. Within a few decades, the two could proudly shake hands somewhere near Hotel Akersloot. The "Valkjes" couldn't care less; after all, "It all comes down to dollars and cents" is their motto. Mark, a mischievous and energetic employee of All Safe who springs up like a spring when I arrive, won't care. He has a job, and that's a basic necessity for all of us. The store itself looks like any other; All Safe is, after all, a proven "chain concept." Mark explains to me that their only real competitor, "Shurgard"—another annoyingly worthless and especially unimaginative English name that naturally erodes customer trust, because you intuitively know as a customer that you're always being ripped off by concepts (and, of course, by Americans...)—that this Shurgard store is located near Alkmaar's city center. While that's a perfectly central location, "All Safe" can still compete, specifically on the square footage, because those in the outskirts are simply cheaper. Besides, how often do you actually have to go to such temporary storage as a customer? You're willing to drive a bit, right? And when the oystercatchers lay their eggs this spring on the sand deposited by yet another Boekelermeer outcrop, where the lapwings already did so a thousand years earlier and a meter lower, namely on the grass of the then-green polder, then everything around All Safe will probably look a little better too. Inside, at least, it's perfectly fine. I wish Mark a brilliant career in his field! ;)