Since Amazon launched its Netherlands warehouse in 2014, traditional retail employment in the country has fallen by more than 150,000 jobs. Department stores that anchored city centers for generations have shuttered, and the high streets of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Utrecht bear the empty storefronts to prove it.

The speed was remarkable. Amazon captured roughly 30 percent of the Dutch e-commerce market within a decade, while local retailers who had thrived for decades could not compete on price or delivery speed. The company's logistics network and tax optimization strategies, routing profits through Luxembourg, meant it could undercut almost everyone.

The story was always the same: innovation, consumer choice, progress. But it masked who actually captured the wealth. Shoppers got next-day delivery and lower prices, yes. But that convenience cost ordinary jobs, tax revenue for municipalities, and the survival of family businesses that employed hundreds of thousands.

By 2024, retail vacancies in the city centers of major Dutch cities had hit 20 to 25 percent, according to property managers. Chains like Hema and Blokker disappeared entirely. Smaller players like Xenos and Flying Tiger held on by focusing on niche categories, but even they report declining foot traffic and rising rents as landlords struggled without anchor tenants.

The Netherlands did not choose this outcome. Dutch retail did not lose to a better idea. Amazon won simply by having access to capital, government connections, and a business model designed to dominate from the start. Amazon did not build retail differently. It demolished the existing one.