Blokker family agree to sell Blokker stores in a management buy-out

A new look Blokker. Photo: Blokker.nl
A new look Blokker. Photo: Blokker.nl

The Blokker family have agreed to sell the Blokker household goods retailer and discounter Big Bazar to the man they had charged with selling them.

Michiel Witteveen, chief executive of the Blokker Holding company, will take over 100% of the shares, the company said in a press statement on Monday. Financial details were not disclosed.

Blokker has been up for sale since November and has been loss making since 2014. The high street staple has 474 outlets in the Netherlands, plus 77 franchise stores, and 128 in Belgium and Luxembourg.

‘We are glad that a period of uncertainty for Blokker and Big Bazar workers is now over,’ the family said in a statement.

Blokker Holding posted a loss of €344m in 2017, almost double the year-earlier loss. Total sales over the year fell by some €400m to €1.6bn, due to both divestments and ‘weak sales results, the company said last year.

In 2017, Blokker Holding began a major overhaul of its high street stores because both sales and profits had been under pressure for years. Part of the reorganisation involved the sale of the Leen Bakker and Intertoys chains, which were also part of the holding.

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