Jan van Haasteren 'Albert Heijn on the Zaanse Schans' 1000 pieces

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Jan van Haasteren 'Albert Heijn at the Zaanse Schans' 1000 pieces - where to buy?

Jan van Haasteren 'Albert Heijn on the Zaanse Schans' 1000 pieces - Specifications

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Jan van Haasteren Puzzle 'Albert Heijn on the Zaanse Schans'

On November 5, 2025, a message suddenly appeared on various social media platforms that this Albert Heijn puzzle would be available. However, it wasn't immediately known when and where it would be available for purchase. It has since been announced that it will be available online on the Albert Heijn website starting November 7, 2025. through this linkHowever, this puzzle cannot be ordered online, but can only be picked up in store. This puzzle is therefore sold exclusively through Albert Heijn, not through other stores! The price of this puzzle is €18,99. This is what it says on the Albert Heijn website:

It's this puzzle:

and this is the box:

More about this puzzle and the relationship with Albert Heijn

The special thing about this puzzle – It was drawn by Jan van Haasteren in 2025, already 89 years old (!) – is that you see the very first Albert Heijn house standing, exactly where it all began. A historic location. What is this story of Albert Heijn and Zaandam?

It all began in 1887, when 21-year-old Albert Heijn took over his father's grocery store in Oostzaan. A small shop of barely 12 square meters – but with big ambitions. A second store in Purmerend soon followed, and Albert began roasting coffee at home behind the shop. In 1899, he moved with his family to Zaandam, the heart of his growing business. Around 1902, he had more than 10 stores and grew into a true large-scale retailer. In 1910, he launched his first private label products – including his famous chocolate and buttermilk soap. A year later, in-house food production started from a bakery in a townhouse at Oostzijde 81 in Zaandam. That townhouse soon became too small. In 1913, a proper factory was built, housing a biscuit, confectionery, and gingerbread factory. By 1914, annual turnover had already reached 2 million guilders.

The Jan van Haasteren puzzle shows you exactly that very first beginning – the little shop where it all once started.

The address of the first Albert Heijn store in Zaandam - address: Oostzijde 81

You can view the location Oostzijde 81 in Zaandam via Google Maps:

The site at Oostzijde 81 is now a residential house, no longer the shop or factory that was located there at the time. Flats from the Zaanoever project now stand on the site. But Albert Heijn had already started baking cookies there, at Oostzijde No. 81, in the parental home of the Ter Wee family, a part of which he had rented. When Albert Heijn heard that Ter Wee was moving to the beginning of the Zaan, he decided in 1911 to buy that small house on the eastern bank of the Zaan: Oostzijde 81. Stately townhouses with beautiful antique facades stood in this residential and shopping street. And it was there, in the kitchen, that Albert began baking cookies, which were sold in the Albert Heijn stores. The reason for this was that he did not want to be dependent on manufacturers and wanted to determine his own quality. To be able to bake cookies as well, a coal-fired hot air oven was installed in the kitchen. The products were so popular that a complete cookie bakery was soon set up. Moreover, the production of confectionery began in the adjacent house, including a beautiful product, Hoki-Poki, black and white balls. New expansions followed at a rapid pace, and new departments were continuously added to the factory.

Do you want to see the first Albert Heijn store yourself? Visit the museum shop at the Zaanse Schans.

Photo source: Website museum shop Zaanse Schans
The original little shop at Oostzijde 81 in Zaandam no longer exists – but the interior has been preserved. The Albert Heijn museum shop is located at the Zaanse Schans.: a reconstruction of the interior and stock of the very first shop in Oostzaan, including the original wooden counter, large brass scales, and wooden storage jars for coffee, tea, and other goods. The building is a national monument and consists of two merged buildings – the front section originally stood on the Oostzijde in Zaandam. The Zaanse Schans. The museum shop attracts more than 200.000 visitors annually. Admission is free. A nice outing if you have put the puzzle together and are curious to see what that small beginning really looked like.

Would you like a digital tour of this first AH store?

A beautiful digital tour has been made available. View 'Digital tour of the first Albert Heijn shop'.

All Jan van Haasteren puzzles published by Albert Heijn

Over the years, Albert Heijn has released more puzzles by Jan van Haasteren. These puzzles are listed in one overview on the page 'Jan van Haasteren Albert Heijn puzzles'.

Unboxing video of this puzzle

I have created an explanation for this puzzle:

Review video of this puzzle

I made a video about this puzzle, featuring the fun and recurring elements:

Laying this puzzle

I always do all the puzzles in one puzzle folderUnfortunately, I didn't take many photos; putting this puzzle together went quite fast.

The beginning:

and eventually I finished the puzzle – the sky in particular took me quite a long time. My goodness, that was much easier than I expected, that was pretty easy:

How long will it take you to complete this 1000 piece puzzle?

I completed the 'Albert Heijn at the Zaanse Schans' puzzle at my leisure and took several days to do so. Nicely on a puzzle folder made on the floor in the living room. I do take the time, but not very precisely, it remains a hobby that puzzles! But to give you an idea of ​​how long it took me to complete this 1000 piece JvH puzzle:

• Explaining the pieces: 20 minutes
• Laying the edges = 25 minutes
• Laying the rest of the pieces = 4 hours and 30 minutes
• Which made me do this puzzle in total = 5 hours and 15 minutes. It used to take me almost always 8 hours, but I have a special tip to be able to puzzle a lot faster

About Jumbo puzzles

Jumbo (not to be confused with our supermarket Jumbo!) makes toys, games and puzzles. Jumbo, for example, has made the very well-known games such as “Human don't get annoyed” and “Stratego” and “PimPamPet”. Games that have been around for generations and are still widely played by both young and old. Jumbo has been making and developing toys since about 1900. In the early years of the company, only toys from other countries were imported to the Netherlands. However, since about 1930 it was decided to also make their own toys, at the time manufacturing wooden toys, which was very popular at the time. Almost all toys in those years were made of wood. An important spearhead was that the toys made by Jumbo had to be of very good quality; it had to be as strong as an Elephant. An elephant had to stand on it! The red elephant has been the hallmark of Jumbo's games and puzzles for years. The name Jumbo and the red elephant together form the logo from about 1935. The Jumbo elephant is drawn by Mr. Möhr. He worked at an advertising agency and regularly signed for Hausemann & Hötte. Mr Möhr was at one point commissioned to design a beautiful new elephant logo for the Hausemann & Hötte toys. The logo has changed a bit since then. For example, the eye has grown over the years and has dropped slightly more, resulting in a friendlier elephant.

In the past, the elephant was not only used in the color red, but in all kinds of colors such as blue, yellow, black, white and green. All those colors were cozy and playful. For example, one time there was a yellow elephant on the box and the other time a red one. It was usually looked at which color best matched the color of the box. It was not until the end of the 60s that the red elephant was definitively chosen. Red is a color that stands out and attracts attention.

From 1945 Jumbo also started to focus on games made of cardboard. Jumbo has therefore been a guarantee for strong quality for years! Jumbo is a unique Dutch company with a rich history, with its head office in Zaandam. About 130 employees work for Jumbo. With a turnover of €75 million, Jumbo is a medium-sized European player in toys. Jumbo has sales offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. They export to more than 25 countries around the world.

In 1980 Jumbo starts the production of Jan van Haasteren Puzzles.

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• 29 December 2025

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  Margriet - Nice to make, not that difficult
  

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