The number of market traders in the Netherlands has fallen by 15% or almost 2,000 over the past 10 years, according to chamber of trade figures.

In particular, market stall holders selling material, bed linen, clothes and shoes are on their way out, but the decline is being felt across the board, the KvK said on Wednesday.

Other figures from market research group GfK show that one third of the Dutch buy goods at a market, but this is down from 40% 10 years ago and 47% in 2008.

Half of current market clients are over the age of 65 and the big challenge is to rejuvenate street markets, GfK said. One way to do this, experts suggest, is to open longer, to catch more people who are at work during the day.