In Could 2021, grocery supply firm Zapp moved right into a small storage, squashed between crimson brick house buildings on a residential avenue known as Fagelstraat in Northwest Amsterdam. Many locals had by no means heard of darkish shops, the mini warehouses grocery apps use to dispatch native deliveries. “We did not know precisely what they have been doing or what kind of enterprise it was,” says native resident Alex (not his actual title).

In lower than a yr, that small Fagelstraat storage has change into an excessive instance of how darkish shops can conflict with native neighbors. Alex, who has lived on the road for seven years and requested anonymity to keep away from additional battle with riders, says there at the moment are 10 to fifteen deliveries every day, and large lorries commonly block the slim highway. “It is a 24/7 enterprise,” he says, “so riders are coming out and in late at evening and early within the morning. At 2 am, I usually have individuals standing in entrance of my window, smoking and speaking actually loudly whereas they’re taking a break.” After a month of this, riders and residents began squaring off as tensions boiled over, Alex says. “There’s been just a few situations after I nearly acquired right into a combat,” he says. “One [rider] was fully in my face. It was fairly horrifying.”

Previously yr, the unfold of darkish shops has quickly accelerated as grocery supply apps Gorillas, Getir, Flink, and Zapp compete to dominate the Dutch market. As of January, there have been 31 darkish shops in Amsterdam alone. The Netherlands appeals to those firms as a result of the nation is small, densely populated, and flat, which means it’s straightforward for his or her couriers to function, says Yara Wiemer, an analyst at analysis and consulting firm Kantar. Demand can be hovering. The variety of Dutch shoppers utilizing grocery supply apps greater than tripled to 700,000 between 2021 and January 2022, in keeping with Wiemer. However because the 4 apps jostle for darkish retailer area in residential areas to allow them to supply quicker deliveries, complaints about noise, bikes blocking pavements, and elevated visitors have change into frequent throughout the nation.

In Amsterdam, these complaints additionally accuse darkish retailer workers of intimidation, sexual harassment, and beginning bodily fights, and town’s residents are mobilizing to kick supply apps out of their neighborhoods.

Fagelstraat has change into the loudest instance of a neighborhood mobilizing in opposition to a darkish retailer. The road has drafted a petition and launched its personal Instagram web page to doc the disturbance. A resident known as Elisabeth says that one evening final fall, when she instructed workers on the Fagelstraat Zapp darkish retailer to maintain the noise down, an individual in a uniform—worn by each riders and warehouse workers—instructed her to cease complaining or he would ship his mates round to her house. “They did not specify what they are going to do, but it surely’s clearly very threatening,” says Elisabeth. She describes being adopted residence a number of instances late at evening by individuals who later went inside Zapp’s darkish retailer and says different feminine residents have complained about sexual harassment and catcalling.

Steve O’Hear, VP of technique at Zapp, says the corporate has a zero-tolerance coverage towards sexual harassment and that he was “stunned” to listen to concerning the aggression between residents and drivers on the firm’s Fagelstraat darkish retailer. “Now we have met commonly with residents from the very starting, and these conversations have largely remained cordial,” he says.