Second Easter Day is (boring but true) the official name for Easter Monday, a National Holiday here in the Netherlands and across Europe. In the past, only furniture stores were open, but in the last year or two, Supermarkets and Department stores in the bigger Dutch cities started opening too.
There is no tradition of a big blow-out shopping day on the Second Easter Day, but de Bijenkorf, the Dutch high-end department store chain, has set out to stimulate one! Bijenkorf launched a week long shopping event called Maffe Marathon, which featured a “Giveaway” of 100 special Bijenkorf branded bikes to the first customers to spend 200 euro in each open location (Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam, Maastricht).
This morning we arrived at Bijenkorf in The Hague just past 11.30 and joined the crowd in front of one of three entrances. Approximately 20 people were ahead of us, but the crowd swelled as the clock ticked toward noon. Luckily, from a personal safety perspective, they were “giving” away bikes, not cars, but with the crush of the crowd as the doors opened, it was no place for small children (though some parents clearly did not think this through).
My husband wondered aloud,”What the hell am I doing here?” But he too got caught up in the sport and excitement of it all. We chose Champagne as our quick purchase item, based both on their good selection and the proximity to the entrance on the ground floor. We raced through the revolving doors and pointed to a special Moet & Chandon gift set of 229 euros locked behind glass (not recommended in a race, but my husband is French, so he can’t help it)! We then ran through the chaos to the back of the store where the crowd reconvened. Our receipt was stamped and claim number 70 was ours! Yeah! Less than 10 minutes after the doors opened, it was all over. The announcement came that all 100 bikes had been claimed.
As you can see from the photo, we were thrilled! I proudly rode my new neon green bike home and my husband added the Champagne to our collection! No, we would not have otherwise gone to spend more than 200 euros specifically at the Bijenkorf today. This was a very successful stunt for Bijenkorf. I did feel guilty running past a young girl in a wheel chair to claim my bike, but she seemed determined to make it on her own, so who am I to interfere? Luckily, as far as I know there were no injuries.
Bijenkorf made sales of approximately 160,000 euros in 10 minutes this morning across their four participating locations and created a flury of excitement and traffic in their stores that carried over throughout the day. What can you do to get people this excited about your business? Are they lining up to buy from you?
Suzy Ogé is an American born business woman living in The Hague, The Netherlands. 
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Many will be ‘green with envy’. I can’t believe that you got it!!
Congratulations, Suzy! Enjoy the champagne when you open it
And what a great bike it is, too. I think already having a plan, a man, a fan, you were the BK’s intended targets
Thanks Natalie!
We were tempted to celebrate the victory, but decided to save this special bottle for a more auspicious occasion!
Indeed, but too bad for them, it was a bit awkward to shop with the bike in hand, or I would have probably stayed and spent more! One guy did offer to take it off our hands and buy it from us within 5 seconds or having it! No way! They will have to get the bike from me the old fashioned Dutch way- Steal it!
Actually Lisa … I do believe she got it! My question is though, where is the bright pink oma fiets …. is Steph riding that one now!
Pink Oma fiets was a bit rusty and abandoned long ago, but now you will see me coming on this bright green one from miles away!
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