7. Conclusion

Conclusion

We can now see, that some of our hypotheses were right and some were wrong.

The hypothesis for our first subquestion was entirely wrong. We thought both streets became shopping streets during the same period. But we found out that even though the streets are of the same age, the Kalverstraat became a shopping street much earlier than the Grote Houtstraat did. There was a difference of three ages!

Our hypothesis for subquestion two was completely correct. The legislation for the Kalverstraat is far more detailed than the legislation for the Grote Houtstraat, which makes the legislation for the Kalverstraat stricter. We were also right about the rent. The rent of the Kalverstraat is more than twice as high as the one of the Grote Houtstraat.

Our hypothesis for the third subquestion was almost correct. It is true that there are more chainshops in the Kalverstraat than in the Grote Houtstraat. We can also find more branches of the same shop in the Kalverstraat than we do in the Grote Houtstraat. But it is not true, that we can not find a shop with different branches in the Grote Houtstraat! It is also true that the shops are relatively similar. But there are some eye-catching differences between the shops that are situated in both streets. We can find more service-shops, non-attire shops and catering businesses in the Grote Houtstraat. But the Kalverstraat on the other hand has more shops with exclusive and expensive items than the Grote Houtstraat.

Our hypothesis for the fourth subquestion was partly correct and partly incorrect. We’ve decided not to take gender into account, because we’ve only interviewed 50 people. We don’t think this amount of people is enough to prove that more males or females can be found in both streets. We were incorrect about the age of the visitors, we thought the age would be almost the same. We’ve discovered that the Kalverstraat has more visitors that are 29 years old or younger, while the visitors of the Grote Houtstraat are of all ages. We were correct about the purpose of the visitors. They were indeed alike for both streets. We were almost correct for the fourth part of our hypothesis. It is true that more foreigners can be found in the Kalverstraat than in the Grote Houtstraat, as well as more visitors from all over the country can be found in the Kalverstraat. But this part of our hypothesis was a bit too extreme!

So what is the real difference between the Kalverstraat and the Grote Houtstraat?

First of all the Kalverstraat has a longer history as a shopping street. It became a shopping street three ages before the Grote Houtstraat did. Apart from this we think the shops in the Kalverstraat aim at a younger public. This explains why more people aged under 30 years old can be found here. We think we can conclude that more chainshops and shops that sell exclusive and expensive articles can be found in the Kalverstraat, because the rent in the Kalverstraat is higher than in the Grote Houtstraat. This too explains why we haven’t found a lot of catering businesses in the Kalverstraat, the rent is simply too high for them to survive! Of course there used to be catering businesses in the Kalverstraat, but they've long gone. Nowadays it is nearly impossible to open a catering business in the Kalverstraat due to the legislation. The legislation in the Kalverstraat is much stricter and more detailed than the regulations in the Grote Houtstraat.
With regard to the people visiting both streets, the Kalverstraat is more international than the Grote Houtstraat. The Kalverstraat attracts more people from the rest of the Netherlands while the Grote Houtstraat attracts more people from its surrounding neighbourhoods and cities.
We expect that during the next few decades the Grote Houtstraat will evolve more and more towards the Kalverstraat, without any private shops and probably only all the chain shops that are situated in the Kalverstraat as well. Does this mean that within a few decades there will be no difference between the Grote Houtstraat and Kalverstraat whatsoever? It's a fact that right now this process is taking place all over the world. Do you reckon this means that eventually all we'll be left with are clone towns? Time will tell...