Action

Founding and expansion in the Netherlands

Action was founded in 1993 by Gerard Deen and Rob Wagemaker, who converted Deen's antiques shop in Enkhuizen into the first Action store. Gerard's brother Boris later joined the company. Several additional stores opened in North Holland during the company's first year, and by the end of 2002 the chain had grown to 94 stores.

The company's early assortment consisted largely of surplus and closeout merchandise sold at low prices, with stock changing rapidly. As the chain expanded, its business model developed into a broader discount format.

International expansion

Action began expanding outside the Netherlands in 2005, when it opened its first Belgian store in Rijkevorsel. Germany followed in 2009 and France in 2012.

The chain entered Austria and Luxembourg in 2015, followed by Poland in 2017. Its expansion accelerated during the 2020s: the first stores in the Czech Republic opened in 2020, followed by Italy in 2021, Spain in 2022, Slovakia in 2023 and Portugal in 2024.

In April 2025, Action entered Switzerland with a store in Bachenbülach in the canton of Zürich. On 5 June 2025, it opened its 3,000th store, in San Rocco al Porto, Italy.

Romania became Action's fourteenth market on 24 September 2025, when its first store opened in Pitești.

Action entered Croatia, its fifteenth market, in March 2026, opening its first store in Sesvete, near Zagreb. The company announced plans to enter Slovenia later in 2026, Bulgaria in 2027, and the United States in late 2027 or early 2028.

Action is a non-food discount retailer whose stores carry around 6,000 products across 14 categories. The categories include garden and outdoor, household, linen, toys, personal care, laundry and cleaning, food and drink, sports, clothing, stationery and hobby, do-it-yourself, decoration, multimedia and pet products.

Around two-thirds of the assortment changes regularly, while the company introduces more than 150 new products each week. Action sells both established consumer brands and private-label products.

The company's business model relies on large-volume purchasing, a standardised store format, low operating costs and a frequently changing assortment. Its sourcing also includes stock-lot traders, a model that can involve purchasing surplus inventory in one market for resale in another.