This is evident from research by RTL Z. “The departure of the management is a very bad omen,” says retail expert Paul Moers. “If management resigns en masse in such a difficult situation, that actually tells me everything. It is not very loyal that they are leaving a sinking ship, and it also indicates that they no longer have confidence in it themselves. It is a worthless signal .”
Deflation
At the end of November, Blokker noted that it would soon face a serious liquidity shortage. It then engaged Ernst & Young’s advisors to look for financing. Blokker has been for sale since January. But the chain of 400 household stores appears to be not only plagued by financial problems.
The company itself has not yet responded to questions from RTL News.
There has been a remarkable exodus at the top of Blokker in recent months. At the end of November, Jeanine Holscher, who had been general manager of the store chain since October 2020, suddenly announced that she would be resigning in January.
The Chamber of Commerce register shows that Holscher resigned from her duties as statutory director of Blokker on December 1, almost immediately after the expected liquidity shortage was noted and the announcement of her departure.
Exit financial director
The same Chamber of Commerce register shows that Blokker’s financial director Allard Visser (45) also resigned from his duties on the same day. His departure has so far gone unnoticed.
Visser has worked for Blokker since the autumn of 2019, where he rose to the position of Chief Financial Officer (COO). He previously worked for Intertoys, Holland Casino, Action and telecom companies Telfort and KPN.
Departure Besems
Operational director Besems is now leaving Blokker. The former supermarket man worked for seven years at parent company Mirage Retail Group.
Before transferring to Blokker in the spring of 2021, Besems was operational director at sister company Big Bazar for four years. He had already worked with Holscher for most of that period, who was general manager of the bargain chain until autumn 2020.
Management of 400 stores
For the past three years, as COO and ‘retail director’ of Blokker, Besems was responsible for managing the 350 company-owned branches and 50 franchise stores of the household stores chain.
In two weeks, Besems will become general manager at the hardware store chain Gamma, part of the retail group Intergamma. Gamma has 166 do-it-yourself stores in the Netherlands. Most of these are franchise locations, stores owned by independent entrepreneurs.
Wishes Blokker good luck
In a message on the networking site LinkedIn, Besems thanks ‘all colleagues at Blokker’ for the collaboration and wishes them ‘good luck in the future’.
“We have made great progress together and further shaped the way forward by optimizing existing processes, improving business results and the store network and starting up many new initiatives.”
‘Departure of management bad omen’
According to retail expert Paul Moers, investor Michiel Witteveen, who took over Blokker from the entrepreneurial family of the same name in 2019, has invested too little in the household chain’s stores.
“After the 2017 repositioning, very little has actually happened, while the outside world has continued to change. Because customers buy online en masse, stores have to be really spectacular and surprising, and not enough has been done about this in recent years.”
Doubts about Witteveen
Moers has doubts about owner Witteveen’s input. “He is more of someone who plays with finances than a real business doctor. The departure of management at Blokker is a very bad omen.
The only bright spot is that now that the store chain may be sold, a new owner can put in place a new team of people who might be able to handle the job.”
