Our Story
Where can you get Gourmet Smoked Cheese, Belgian Truffles, Dutch Salted Licorice, English Peppermints, Scottish Kippers, Indonesian Spices, Samurai Rice Crackers and Jalapeno Pepper Jelly all in one store?
At The Dutch Market, of course. Yes, we carry many Dutch specialty products and gifts but we do not stop there. We carry a smorgasbord of imported goods from many other European Cultures too!
This is our story:
Owner Charlie purchased The Dutch Market Ltd. in 1987. At that time, this was a single store located on St. Clair Street, (Chatham, Ontario Canada). At that time the company was run with just 3 employees. In the mid 90's, Charlie saw a real opportunity to improve the quality of our products and the price competitiveness of our store by importing directly from Europe.
Direct importing for the store grew to wholesale to other Dutch and European Shops across South Western Ontario. Today we supply Bakeries, Butcher shops, European specialty shops, Farmers Markets and grocery stores across North America.
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In 1995, Charlie moved the store to 544 Queen Street. Our wholesale and importing operation had grown with the addition of new warehousing facilities and staff.
The fall of 1997, saw the beginning of our Internet operation.
In 2004 a Dutch Shop came up for sale in Sarnia. Charlie purchased the store as an addition to the Dutch Market Family. This allowed us the opportunity to share our unique European goods and expertise with another Ontario community. With Sarnia being a border city, our friends from Michigan can now conveniently cross the Sarnia Blue Water Bridge and experience a piece of Holland.
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2005 marked the beginning of our Bakery operations. Charlie saw an opportunity to provide customers with fresh bakery products using Dutch Bakers and traditional Dutch recipes.
Fresh European bread, raisin buns, almond sticks, cakes and of course delicious gebakjes are available daily without travelling across the world.
With the success of the Bakery and the constant addition to European goods, a larger centralized location was needed so in May 2006, The Dutch Market combined all of its Chatham facilities under one roof, located on 6 Indian Creek Road East (Chatham, Ontario).
Our retail store, bakery, and warehouse doubled in size, product and quality. More staff was brought in to improve service and to keep up with demand from our customers.
In 2013 our Internet Operations have been upgraded with a brand new website to serve our customers better. The new site features new products, prices and a convenient way to lookup prior orders! Customers can even receive emails of specials and clearance items we are offering on products. All of this makes customers online shopping experience even better!
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And we continue to work hard to provide our customers with the best service, respect and products to make your experience with our business, whether it is online, in person at our stores or as a whole sale customer, the best ever !
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In the fall of 2016, new doors opened up for the Dutch Market in Chatham and our customers as we moved into an even bigger and better location. This location, in the Down Town Chatham Area includes a section of various frozen foods, including in-house made meals that are ready to serve once heated. There is also a Cafe, so you can sit and relax and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee with a delicious pastry. Or you can order a Sandwich and Soup if you are really hungry. Also a full salad bar is waiting for you to enjoy!
Unfortunately the Dutch Market Chatham location was forced to close it's doors in December 2023 and all operations are now running from the Sarnia location.