Science Park will get no big supermarket for the time being

The university announced on Wednesday that it was not able to find a place for a temporary supermarket at Utrecht Science Park. The ground floor of the Educatorium building had initially been considered, but, according to the university, the location turned out to be unsuitable.

The news will certainly come as a great disappointment to the students living on campus, who have been waiting for a better supermarket for years. Parties in the municipal council also pushed for a supermarket with a more extensive and affordable offer. After all, the range of products in the small Spar branch under the Langeveld building is not enough for daily groceries and more and more students are moving into the area.

Last year, things finally seemed to be moving forward. The municipal council and Executive Board endorsed the residents' wishes and started to look for a place to open a supermarket with roughly twice the surface area of the current Spar branch. This supermarket would be inaugurated in three years and an even larger store would be opened in the future. But those plans fell through, again. 

According to the research report, only the ground floor of the Educatorium building has enough surface area available to accommodate the desired supermarket. Part of the current seating area would have had to be sacrificed for this purpose. However, UU does not want the building to lose its character as a study and meeting space. What's more, the Educatorium building has a monumental status and one doubts whether architect Rem Koolhaas would have agreed to such a change.

But all is not lost. The university emphasises that a bigger supermarket is not completely out of the picture. UU will examine whether a future building, to be built where the Langeveld building is now, could include a supermarket. The Langeveld building is scheduled to be demolished in 2028.

Now that no other supermarket is coming in the short term, Spar has decided to expand its store area of ​​approximately 400 square metres by a quarter. It will also expand its product range, focusing on products targeted at students, also in terms of price.