Can one weekend on Herentals' market square really move the till for a Kempen town?
Based on a single regional listing in Het Nieuwsblad, the programme is modest in scale but revealing about how small Belgian town centres now compete for attention.
In 30 seconds
- Regional daily Het Nieuwsblad reports that Herentals' central Grote Markt hosts three events in one weekend: a collectors' market, a techno event and an Elvis Presley tribute.
- Herentals sits in the Kempen region of Antwerp province, Flanders, with a population of roughly 40,000.
- Event-led footfall is an increasingly common summer economic lever for provincial Flemish town centres and their retail and horeca sectors.
- No attendance, revenue or year-on-year comparison figures were available in the single regional source, and the programme could not be independently corroborated.
The story concerns an event weekend on the Grote Markt (central market square) of Herentals, a town of roughly 40,000 people in the Kempen region of Antwerp province, Flanders. As reported by regional daily Het Nieuwsblad, the square hosts three distinct events in one weekend: a collectors' market, a techno event and an Elvis Presley tribute. The economic frame is the "belevingseconomie" (experience economy), the strategy by which Flemish town centres and local traders' associations use markets and events to draw footfall to independent retail and hospitality (horeca).
Background
The marktplein has historically been the commercial heart of Flemish towns, where trade happened by default. Over recent decades, competition from e-commerce and out-of-town retail parks has eroded that automatic footfall, prompting municipalities and traders' associations across the Kempen and Flanders to programme markets, food festivals and music into their squares as a deliberate draw. Herentals' three-audience weekend fits this pattern of event-led town-centre revival rather than representing a novel departure.
What to do
For visitors: a free-to-browse market with music, within walking distance of the town centre, but expect tighter parking and crowds. For retailers: a concentrated opportunity to boost summer takings that may justify extra staffing for the weekend.
Impact
Regional — Directly relevant to Herentals and the surrounding Kempen: footfall for town-centre retail and horeca, use of public space on the Grote Markt, and the municipality's town-centre animation strategy. Predictable local trade-offs include tighter parking and event noise for residents around the square.
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- Publication date unavailable
- Retrieved by ODIN:
- 9 Aug 2026
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This story was assembled from verified evidence, with its sources and reasoning recorded as it was written.