With just one day to go before they start disappearing from the shelves, shopkeepers in the Netherlands are reporting a run on old-fashioned light bulbs.

From Saturday it will be illegal under EU rules to produce or import the bulbs, which are being replaced by more energy-efficient alternatives.
‘We are talking about thousands,’ Bart Goldsteeg, from light bulb importer ABC, told the Telegraaf. ‘We’ve bought up stockpiles from all over Europe. Because shops have been phasing them out, consumers have now found their way to our door.’
Friedie van Beek of the Lampenpaleis in Enschede told the paper hoarding first began in 2009 and has picked up again after an initial lull. ‘We just had someone in who went off with all sorts of types,’ he said.
The fact that the nights are drawing in has also prompted consumers to stock up on light bulbs, Bert Adolfs from a lamp shop in Hengelo said.
Traditional bulbs still have many advantages over the new energy saving and led varieties, he said. They are not only much cheaper but the quality of light is better and they can be dimmed.
‘Technology is improving but it is still too early. The ban should not have been introduced until there was a good alternative,’ he told the Telegraaf.
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