Nurturing a new middle class

Processes of gentrification can be found in a lot of different districts of Amsterdam. The Diamantbuurt has also caught the attention of the urban policy makers who aim to produce ‘liveable neighborhoods’. The notion of ‘liveability’ overall relates to the social economic composition of the neighborhood’s residents (van Gent 2012: 506). These policies regularly contain the pro-active insertion of middle-income households in low-income areas. As mentioned in the previous blog post concerning the history of The Diamantbuurt, the Diamantbuurt arose as a working class neighborhood and has only quite recently become an exclusive, and very popular, neighborhood for young urban professionals (YUP). The Diamantbuurt is a nice example of this upcoming gentrification; you can find an obvious increase in the amenities and services associated with middle-class taste, like trendy bars, restaurants, galleries, and exclusive stores. The agency for investigation and statistics (2012) tells us that there are 52 shops in the neighborhood with a combined surface of 2.208 m².

     The Van Wou straat, the main street that crosses the Diamantbuurt and divides it in two parts, is actually very representative for the district. In this street you will find a nice mix of yuppie restaurants, stores, shops and ‘oriental’ food stores. Whereas in the Pijp, the neighboring district of the Diamantbuurt, gentrification is almost completed, in the Diamantbuurt you can still find this diversity that Amsterdam is famous for.

Food store STACH

 An example of a store associated with middle- class taste is food store STACH. It is a delicacy-store, boutique-like, that sells organic products, healthy take away meals and you can also have coffee and lunch inside. On its website the store is promoted and portrayed as a food store with seasonal specials, all the food is fresh and comes from different regional suppliers, personal attention for the customers, and has, remarkably in this diverse area, only white ‘yuppie’ customers on its pictures. The target group contains ‘people who love healthy and tasty food but are too busy or just don’t feel like cooking’1. In other words, especially for ‘yuppies’. It is interesting to see how these concepts of healthy organic food stores increase in Amsterdam, where ‘yuppies’ can differentiate themselves from the masses.

      Another place for yuppies and students on the Van Wou Street is ‘De Stadskantine’. Literally

Stadskantine

translated it means ‘the city cafeteria’. It is a certain kind of business that is very popular at the moment: a place where you can eat and drink while working on your laptop or reading a book. The meals are not expensive, they change daily and the used products are all fresh 2. The target group therefore contains students and yuppies who like to work there in the afternoons. And also the people who do not feel like cooking in the evenings and want to go for a quick meal, and who like the idea of a having a ‘home made meal’. The design of the cafeteria is light, with a lot of glass, and it feels like an informal environment. This makes the place more accessible in the way that it feels less of an effort to come over and have a meal. The biggest difference between a cafeteria like this and a restaurant is probably that it is normal to have a meal or a coffee on your own.

Large 'Italian table in Spaghetteria

     The amenities for middle class taste are still increasing, as the restaurant Spaghetteria opened its doors only in February 2012.They call themselves a ‘pasta bar’, and promote their home made, fresh pasta made of organic flour3. This Yuppie place doesn’t have separate tables but just one large ‘Italian’ table where everybody can sit together like a big family. 

 

Underneath this picture you can see a Turkish food store, a totally different type of store than the stores mentioned above. In the Van Wou street you can see these contrasting cultures come together in this and divide two areas at the same time. The immigrant side versus the yuppie side.  These upcoming yuppie places give a fascinating diversity in the shopping landscape. On the one hand you have these posh restaurant Pekelhaaring, the Stadskantine, Spaghetteria and Stach. On the other hand you will also see a lot of Dönerplaces, Turkish supermarkets, pizzerias and other immigrant owned consumption sights. 

Turkish Food Store

 

What makes this interesting is that although the gentrification process is still going on, there are still quite a few stores and places which seem to survive. One of these shops is the long lasting Turkish supermarket Genco, situated on the corner of the van Wou and the Tolstraat. Several residents of the area pointed out this grocery store as a ‘pleasant shop with nice products and a friendly, helpful staff’. According to an article in The Volkskrant ( March 15th, 2005). Genco Supermarket was established on this same corner in 1966 by Mustafa Genco. Mustafa Genco was a working migrant who came to Amsterdam to escape the poverty in the Turkish town of Gaziantep. After being badly treated by several bosses Mustafa decided to never work for a boss again. He then started the grocery store and moved his wife and kids from Turkey to join him here in Amsterdam. He needed the help of his family to be ahead of the competition that started appearing over the years.

Genco Versmarkt

Since Genco is a family business many family members worked there to benefit the family, by benefit the family I mean they didn’t earn wages. Mustafa started as a small butcher to sell meat slaughtered by Islamic rules to the fast growing group of Turkish working migrants streaming into the Netherlands. This was a very clever choice. Today the Genco imperium consists of several grocery stores like the one in the van Woustraat as well as a hip restaurant/bar in the east part of Amsterdam. The resaurant has the same logo despite not having a business agreement with the grocery store. But, the owners are family and would most likely help each other out when in need. Just like the family helped out when starting the business.

It might be surprising that some residents mentioned Genco as a pleasant place to do the daily shopping in this exclusive neighborhood. But ever since the Mediterranean kitchen becamepopular in Holland, the Dutch costumers also found their way over to Genco for these products. If there is one thing yuppies like, it must be being ‘multicultural’ and ‘tolerant’. Helping the suspected less fortunate and interacting with former migrant families grants the yup social prestige. This is exactly the reason why besides hip coffee places, also the Turkish owned restaurants and shops are doing very well in this area.

Abert Cuyp market: the social mix that is left in the Pijp

There is no outdoor market in the Diamantbuurt itself, but the Albert Cuyp market in the Pijp, the neighboring district, provides an important service for the residents of the area. Although the Pijp is known to be a gentrified area, the Albert Cuyp market still socially mixed. A lot of migrants from Pakistan and Afghanistan have their stalls on the market with cosmetics and clothing. The fruit and vegetables stalls are mainly owned by Dutch people, born and raised in Amsterdam. Then there are always a few stalls of people to promote new products, like handy kitchen tools. A stall costs in total around 35 euros daily. There is a waiting list to have your stall on the market, and you have to have a permit.

The store on the market that sells plants is a family owned business; it is called ‘de Plantenmarkt’. They have had their store since 1954, and it still goes really well. Their main customers are ‘dagjesmensen’, visitors and tourist who come just for a day to the Albert Cuyp market, and people (in their words), who are ‘bored’. When I asked them what they meant by that, they explained that a lot of old people from the area pass by, just to make a walk, and the ‘richer kind’ who ‘have nothing else to do’. When I asked them if they thought they had a lot of customers from the Diamantbuurt, they answered that ‘those immigrants will probably go to the Dappermarkt, as that market is even cheaper’. This quote again proves that the image of the Diamantbuurt has not changed, and I am sure that they meant the ‘old’ Diamantbuurt. There is an area that has been ‘added’ to the Diamantbuurt in 2005. The residents of this part still call their neighborhood ‘the pijp’, as they don’t want to belong to the bad image of the Diamantbuurt. The truth is that a lot of people from this side of the Van Wou straat do come to the Albert Cuyp market. But they are not considered as the residents of the Diamantbuurt.

Cited literature:

van Gent, W.P.C

2013 Neoliberalization, Housing Institutions an Variegated Gentrification: How the

‘Third Wave’ Broke in Amsterdam. International Journal of Urban and Regional

Research. (37)2 : 503 - 522.