When you mention Swalmen, the Max Verstappen Shop immediately comes to mind. But it’s not just a shop, it’s also a kind of museum that showcases the impressive career of the four-time world champion, attracting fans from near and far. “Once, we had three visitors from Pakistan,” says one local.
In the Limburg town of Swalmen, near Roermond and not far from the German border, there’s a serene calm at eleven o’clock on a weekday morning. Germans passing through the village on their way to a day of shopping in the neighboring country are guided via the main road. One place immediately catches the eye, all gazes turn a quarter turn towards it: the Max Verstappen Shop. People of all ages, men and women, trickle in regularly.
Once inside, they can’t take their eyes off all the memorabilia in the store. The absolute showpiece is without a doubt the Red Bull RB12. To illustrate: this is the car in which Max Verstappen drove on that memorable Pentecost day in 2016, when both Mercedes ‘bounced off’, as commentator Olav Mol aptly put it, and Max Verstappen won his first Grand Prix Formula 1 in Barcelona.
The full story of Max Verstappen comes to life in Swalmen through a variety of unique racing items displayed throughout the store, in display cases, frames, and on stands. The helmet, racing suit, and trophies from his karting days, the racing suit from his first victory in Barcelona, and the ‘Viva Las Vegas’ racing suit inspired by Elvis Presley, complete with champagne stains. The ‘Poleman of the Year 2024’ band and the sprint race trophy from the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix – the second place was enough for his fourth world title. And that’s not all.
“Just look at it, it’s still nice and dirty and there are even dead flies on it,” says owner Roger Hermans, referring to the helmet that is inextricably linked to Verstappen’s very first victory. “We should really make two holes in the display case so you can smell the sweat.”
Hermans regularly receives visitors from abroad, from Germans and Belgians to Asians. “Once there were six Japanese at the door, but also four Chinese and three Pakistanis,” says Hermans, who hasn’t forgotten the story about a British boy. “He had seen and read so much online about the store that he told his mother: ‘I want to go there’. What turned out? He was turning eighteen and his parents allowed him to splurge. He bought a lot of items, then got back in the taxi and flew home via Düsseldorf. How cool is that?” laughs Hermans.
