Bløf gives live concert in Amsterdam department store display window

DutchAmsterdam.nl — Dutch music groups Novastar and Bløf along with singer Sabine Star will give concerts on Thurday in a shop window at De Bijenkorf, Amsterdam’s largest and most prestigious department store.

Jeroen van Inkel, Gijs Staverman, Ruud de Wild and other DJs of radio station Q-Music will be broadcasting all day from an improvised studio in the shop’s corner display window.

The concerts and radio stint are part of the warehouse’s ‘Mad Marathon’ sale. Through April 13th various artistic activities will take place in the store’s corner window.

The Bijenkorf (Beehive) started out as a small sewing notions shop at nearby Nieuwendijk, in the year 1870.

In 1912 the owner bought several additional shops at Nieuwendijk, intending to expand his store. In order to facilitate the expansion project, he temporarily moved his store to Dam square.

However, when turnover at the new location turned out to be five times as high as at Nieuwendijk, it was decided to keep the store at Dam square.

Bankers, however, did not want to finance a specialty store at that location. Therefore the owner decided to turn his sewing notions shop into a warehouse.

The Bijenkorf in its current form officially opened in 1915. The store introduced many marketing tactics that were new to Holland, including art exhibitions by young artists and fanciful store windows.