How may I help you?

An exhibition about shop interiors

Since 2005, the exhibition 'Wat mag het zijn?’ (How may I help you?) has given visitors the opportunity to wander down memory lane. The presentation takes the form of a shopping street from years gone by. With the arrival of the roll-down shutter and self-service, shopping in the Netherlands changed forever. Nowadays, everything is much more uniform, with supermarkets and chain stores employing exactly the same style in every town. The milk shop and grocer’s shop were forced to make way for supermarkets and, these days, the once-familiar question ‘How may I help you?’ is seldom heard.

This semi-permanent exhibition illustrates the diversity of times past using shop interiors from the collection belonging to the Netherlands Open Air Museum. Here you will see:  

• Veen Company (a shop selling colonial goods), Sneek (1816 - 1953)
• 'Apotheek aan huis' (pharmacy), Schrans (1850 - 1911)
• 'Magazijn De Kindervriend' (toy shop), Meppel (1900 - 1925)
• 'Arnhemsche Balletjeswinkel' (sweet shop), Arnhem (1880 - 1969)
• 'Drogisterij Christiaanse' (chemist’s), Leiden (1909 - 1961) 
• 'Herenkapsalon Kippersluijs' (barber’s), Utrecht (1864 - 1974)
• 'Sigarenzaak Dick Fries' (cigar shop), Aalten (1949 - 2004)
• ‘Blauwe Mortier’ dance organ in Café Wieckhorst, Terneuzen (ca. 1912)