Vroom & Dreesmann
IndustryDepartment store
Founded1887 (1887)
Founder
  • Willem Vroom
  • Anton Dreesmann
Defunct15 February 2016 (2016-02-15)
FateBankruptcy
HeadquartersThe Netherlands
Number of locations
67 (2016)
Area served
The Netherlands
Key people
John van der Ent (CEO)
BrandsV&D, La Place
Number of employees
10,000 (2016)
ParentSun Capital Partners
Websitevd.nl
Amsterdam store on the Rokin, 1930
Ad for the Maastricht store, 1935

Vroom & Dreesmann (V&D) was a Dutch chain of department stores founded in 1887.[1] It was declared bankrupt on 31 December 2015,[2] although its branches were still in operation until 15 February 2016. On 16 February 2016, it was announced that takeover negotiations had not led to an agreement, ultimately resulting in the company's demise.[3]

In 2015, V&D operated 67 branches throughout the Netherlands, of which 64 department stores and 3 standalone locations of La Place, V&D's former subsidiary restaurant chain which had in-house and standalone restaurants throughout the country. The department stores' product range included clothing and shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, books, home-entertainment products, electric goods, stationery, cards and posters, furniture and homewares. Most branches also had a La Place in-house restaurant, a travel agent and an ATM. Larger branches also had a bakery.

Vroom & Dreesmann on the Grote Houtstraat in Haarlem, 1993

Foundation and expansion, 1887–1972

Vroom & Dreesmann was founded in 1887 by Willem Vroom and Anton Dreesmann.[4] The first branch opened in Weesperstraat[nl] in Amsterdam.[4]

The company expanded rapidly throughout the Netherlands until 1972.

Vroom & Dreesmann hits a plateau, 1972–2007

Vroom & Dreesmann was reorganized into Vendex in 1972 and Vendex International in 1982.[5] In 1987, the in-house restaurant chain La Place was opened. In 1988, Anton Dreesman was replaced as the company's CEO with Abraham Verhoef.[6][7] In 1999, Vendex merged with Koninklijke Bijenkorf Beheer (KBB), the parent company of retail chains De Bijenkorf and Hema, and was renamed into Vendex KBB.[8] It also inherited KBB's royal designation "Koninklijk".[9]

In 2004, Vendex KBB was sold to a new investor group that included KKR, Alpinvest and Permira. It lost its royal designation as a result, yet was allowed to keep the K in its name.[9] In 2005, Vendex KBB changed its name into Maxeda.

V&D, downfall and bankruptcy, 2007–2015

Closed and empty V&D in Utrecht after bankruptcy.

In 2007, Vroom & Dreesmann was rebranded into V&D[1] and the red, white and blue logo was replaced with a black logo. In 2008, the vd.nl website was launched. From 2010 to 2015, V&D was a subsidiary of Sun Capital Partners.

In February 2015, it was unclear whether V&D would continue to exist.[10] Among the reasons mentioned for its demise:

  • The rise of the internet with online shopping and the late start of V&D e-commerce.
  • Cheaper brick and mortar stores such as the Swedish H&M and Irish Primark that competed successfully for V&D's market share.[5]
  • Lacking clear identity,[11] in comparison with these affordable stores and the more exclusive ones, such as De Bijenkorf.[5]
  • The sale of the V&D real estate by the joint British-American ownership before Sun Capital, possibly increasing the warehouse's operational costs. The claim, that this was part of the problem, has been contested as, whether through capital costs or rent, real estate needs to be accounted for one way or another.

After negotiations, real estate owners agreed to reduce the area and costs of the rental properties, employees agreed to a gradual pay cut, and the V&D owners agreed to inject capital, but not the amount needed. Eventually, this problem was also resolved. In mid-March 2015, the rent reduction in Den Bosch and Heerlen remained unresolved.[12] In May 2015, V&D kept working on reducing the rents and a new business plan, to be implemented in the short term, which aimed to make V&D profitable again in two years.

In December 2015, the firm was again under court protection for insolvency.[13][14] The website no longer sold articles.[13] V&D gift cards as well as air miles were no longer accepted for payment.[13] On 31 December 2015, V&D was declared bankrupt.[14][2] The appointed liquidators kept the department stores open, pending restructuring and takeover talks with interested parties.[2] On 26 January 2016, Supermarket chain Jumbo announced that it had acquired the subsidiary La Place.[15] Talks continued for selling the stores that focused in February on Roland Kahn's retailer CoolCat.[16] By 16 February, the negotiations for a takeover had broken down.[3][17][18] About 10,000 employees lost their jobs.[2]

Aftermath

Hudson's Bay, 2017–2019

In V&D's latter days, Canadian retail group Hudson's Bay Company negotiated with the landlords to acquire most of the company's premises without having an interest in the company itself.[19] In May 2016 Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) announced that it would take over up to 20 former V&D locations by 2017. HBC said the expansion would cost CAD $340 million and create 2,500 jobs in the stores and another 2,500 temporary construction jobs. The Dutch stores would operate under the "Hudson's Bay" and "Saks Off Fifth" brands.[20]

As of mid-2019, Hudson's Bay Company still operated 15 stores in the defunct Vroom & Dreesmann locations. On August 31, 2019, the company announced that all 15 of those stores would close by year-end.[21][22]

V&D web store, since 2018

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vroom & Dreesmann.

The brand name V&D was bought by entrepreneurs Ronald van Zetten, Roland Kahn, and Jaco Scheffers.[23] In 2018 a web store with the V&D brand was opened.

Stores

Upon the chain's closing in 2016, V&D had 62 stores, located in Alkmaar, Almere, Alphen aan den Rijn, Amersfoort, Amstelveen, Amsterdam (Kalverstraat), Amsterdam-Noord at Buikslotermeerplein(nl), Apeldoorn, Arnhem, Assen, Bergen op Zoom, Beverwijk, Breda, Delft, Den Haag, Den Helder, 's-Hertogenbosch, Deventer, Doetinchem, Dordrecht, Ede, Eindhoven, Emmen, Enschede, Goes, Gorinchem, Gouda, Groningen, Haarlem, Haarlem-Schalkwijk, Heerlen (see article), Hellevoetsluis, Hengelo, Hilversum, Hoofddorp, Hoorn, Leeuwarden, Leiden, Leidschendam, Maastricht, Meppel, Naaldwijk, Nijmegen, Oss, Purmerend, Rijswijk, Roermond, Roosendaal, Rotterdam, Rotterdam-Zuid at Winkelcentrum Zuidplein(nl), Sittard, Tilburg, Uden, Utrecht at Hoog Catharijne(nl), Veenendaal, Venlo, Vlaardingen, Weert, Zaandam, Zeist, Zoetermeer, and Zwolle, all in The Netherlands.[24]

References

  1. 1 2 "Facts & Figures". V&D. Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 De Zeeuw, Huib (31 December 2015). "V&D is failliet verklaard, winkels blijven nog open" [V&D is declared bankrupt, shops still remain open]. NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  3. 1 2 Rijlaarsdam, Barbara; Van der Heijden, Teri (16 February 2016). "Overname V&D is mislukt" [V&D takeover has failed]. NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Oerhollands warenhuis V&D kampte met slecht imago". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). ANP. 14 September 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Van der Laan, Servaas (10 February 2016). "Wie zijn verantwoordelijk voor problemen V&D en Blokker?" [Who are responsible for the problems of V&D and Blokker?]. Elsevier (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  6. ↑ Van Der Linde, Frans. "Vendex International". ANP Historisch Archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Barmash, Isadore (2 February 1989). "Talking Deals; Dillard's Desire for Vendex Stake". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  8. ↑ "Grootste warenhuisketen in de maak: V & D-concern koopt Bijenkorf" [Largest department-store chain in the making: V&D group acquires De Bijenkorf]. NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). 9 February 1998. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Vendex-warenhuizen niet meer koninklijk" [Vendex department stores no longer royal]. Trouw (in Dutch). 2 December 2005. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  10. ↑ "Department store group V&D fights for survival (update)". DutchNews.nl. 3 February 2015.
  11. ↑ "'V&D is saai en ouderwets'". PAROOL.
  12. ↑ ANP (18 March 2015). "V&D gaat toch overleggen met verhuurders Den Bosch en Heerlen". Z24.
  13. 1 2 3 "Cookiewall: Cookies op de Volkskrant - de Volkskrant".
  14. 1 2 "Dutch V&D department store business goes bust". BBC News. 31 December 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  15. ↑ Hermanides, Elisa (26 January 2016). "Supermarktketen Jumbo koopt La Place-restaurants" [Supermarket chain Jumbo acquires La Place restaurants]. Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  16. ↑ "CoolCat-eigenaar dreigt race om V&D te verliezen" [CoolCat owner on track to lose race for V&D]. NOS (in Dutch). 10 February 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  17. ↑ Van der Ploeg, Jarl (16 February 2016). "Na 129 jaar is het over voor V&D: 'Teleurstelling in duizenden hoofdletters'" [After 129 years it is over for V&D: 'Disappointment in thousands of capital letters']. De Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  18. ↑ "Doek valt voor V&D; doorstart mislukt" [Curtain falls for V&D; debt restructuring failed]. NOS (in Dutch). 16 February 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  19. ↑ Hermanides, Elisa (12 February 2016). "Twee schakers in eindspel V&D" [Two chess players in endgame V&D]. Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  20. ↑ "HBC to expand to the Netherlands". CBC News. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  21. ↑ Loeb, Walter. "Hudson's Bay Sells European Stake, Might Go Private". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  22. ↑ "Hudson's Bay to Close Dutch Unit and Dismiss 1,400 Workers: Report". Bloomberg.com. 2019-08-31. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  23. ↑ "De Gooi- en Eemlander - Schoolcampus van V&D bij Albert Heijn". www.gooieneemlander.nl. Archived from the original on 2017-05-05.
  24. ↑ Hondelink, Philippe; Otto, Richard (22 April 2018). Vroom en Dreesmann (in Dutch). Tens Media. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
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