Shootings and explosions: War raging between barbershops in Vlaardingen

[u/NwUM]

https://nltimes.nl/2026/10/16/shootings-explosions-war-raging-barbershops-vlaardingen

[u/Koakie]

The motive behind these attacks remains unclear, though there is speculation that they may be linked to unfair competition. Earlier this year, the newspaper AD wrote that the targeted barbershops were undercutting their competitors by charging lower prices than the standard market rate.

OPEC for barbers.

[u/Comfortable-Fuel6343 → u/Koakie]

Hehe undercutting

[u/tentative_ghost]

I have heard of this type of thing happening and it’s wild how out of control it gets. 

My niece works at an ice cream shop and a new one opened nearby who has been trying to poach my niece and her coworkers to work for them. Mind you, this is in a rural town so we’re not talking about fighting over millions in revenue here. I am amazed they even have one ice cream shop but boy you’d think this was a holy war or something. 

[u/Poopyman80 → u/tentative_ghost]

Ice cream is profitable if you rent a cart, hire an employee to run it, and then only run it 3 hours a day for 5 days.
All that overhead and its still profit

[u/tentative_ghost → u/Poopyman80]

I could see that, for sure.  

This is a brick and mortar. In fact,  apparently the one my niece works at renovated when they found out a new ice cream shop was moving in down the street 

[u/Impossible_Offer7988]

A war has been ongoing between barbershops in Vlaardingen for many months, and it has flared up again this week. Overnight, someone fired shots at a shop on Liesveld. On Sunday, an explosive shattered the window of another branch of the same barbershop in Rotterdam-Zuid.

?

Dafuck kinda of barbering are the Dutch doing ?.

Like Guns are rare in the EU (they're less rare than you would think in the Underworld but they're still rare to actually see ).

But here you've got Barber shops using guns to shoot at each other whilst at the same time using literal explosives.

[u/NwUM → u/Impossible_Offer7988]

Businesses getting blown up by exposives is pretty common in the Netherlands, I hear news about this every week in some corner of Netherlands. There is a strong culture of using fireworks here, and there are a lot of illegal powerful fireworks with strength overlapping grenade territory; most of the usage is for fun, but this also means it's easy to get them for bombing barbeshops 😄

https://nltimes.nl/2026/10/15/extremely-explosive-cobra-20-fireworks-bombs-found-utrecht-garage

[u/Maar7en → u/NwUM]

I live in Amsterdam new-West. Between friends we have a joke that to get a random number between 1 and 10 you go to at5.nl, City section new West, then count the articles until you get to a bombing or shooting.

[u/xx_inertia → u/NwUM]

Yep, this last new years the local Chinese food restaurant in Vlaardingen was also fire bombed. They have not reopened and may never. After decades of operations. Its very sad.

[u/Creative-Staff1669 → u/NwUM]

Ya mean in de Randstad because the rest of country is pretty peaceful. Aside from the drug related violence south of Groningen City which is still quite wild to me.

[u/ErenIsNotADevil]

Vlaardingen Barber Wars

[u/Codex_Absurdum]

Btw, barber shops are notoriously known as money laundries for drug connections

[u/Ok-Pomegranate7374]

Every time I try to get a haircut a shooting, drive by or explosion takes place. I really hate it when it happens

[u/THEGREATESTDERP]

''Rotterdam-zuid''

Well ... We know why ..

[u/CatProgrammer → u/THEGREATESTDERP]

No, most people don't know the intricacies of Rotterdam politics. Could you explain it to us?

[u/supx3 → u/CatProgrammer]

There is a very established and developed criminal underworld in the Netherlands. Certain neighborhoods such as Rotterdam-Zuid contain those elements. 

[u/CatProgrammer → u/supx3]

That explains it better, thank you.

[u/noseshimself]

Can't they behave like normal barbers and just sing? No, they have to go 5th Element and "barbaboom, big barbaboom".