Paulien Loerts, co-owner of Athenaeum, took the initiative for the takeover and emphasizes that it is a collaboration behind the scenes between the two bookstores, each with a great literary history and its own iconic appearance.
Both bookstores sold more books in 2023, but made losses in both 2022 and 2023 due to cost increases. Loerts hopes for a healthy future for both Athenaeum (with branches on the Spui, in South, South East and Haarlem) and Scheltema through the merger. The stores will continue to exist side by side, but share general services such as customer service, import, finance and human resources. The takeover has no consequences for the staff.
Some air
In 2012, Scheltema threatened to disappear forever when the Selexyz group, the owner of the bookstore at the time, went bankrupt. A takeover by Polare provided some relief, until that company also filed for bankruptcy ten years ago. This was followed by a rescue operation by Novamedia, the company behind the National Postcode Lottery. The bookstore moved from Koningsplein to Rokin, close to where the bookstore was located between 1885 and 1975 as Scheltema & Holkema’s Boekhandel.
Novamedia wanted to keep Scheltema for the city at the time. “Nobody wanted to buy the store, if you want to make money you shouldn’t buy books,” says spokesman Martijn van Klaveren. “But we thought: Scheltema is an institution. We not only looked after the store, a lot of creativity, dedication and money went into turning the store into the book palace it should be.”
No urge to expand
Nevertheless, the focus of Novamedia, with charity lotteries in five countries, is now elsewhere. When Athenaeum Boekhandel BV investigated the possibilities for collaboration last year, it turned out to be ‘the dream buyer’. Loerts, also director of Singel Uitgeverijen, took over Athenaeum Boekhandel BV in 2021 with investor Derk Haank. The new branch in Amsterdam-Zuidoost opened in 2022.
The takeover of Scheltema should not be seen as a drive for expansion, says Loerts. “I firmly believe in bookstores as commercial, cultural community centers, as the nicest places in every city or village. Because all costs continue to rise and because we want to maintain the service and range of our bookstores, we either had to grow or become much smaller. Novamedia took very good care of Scheltema after the bankruptcy of Polare. But together you are really strong. My motive is a healthy ecosystem for bookstores and publishers.”
