2023-07-23 10:00:55
Regional department stores, invariably family businesses, have almost all disappeared. But in Doesburg, Staarink is still standing. “I might be the very last one.”
“Good followingnoon, do you also sell fly swatters?” a customer asks Paul Staarink. Of course he sells that. After all, department store Staarink, located on the Markt in Doesburg, sells just regarding everything you can think of. Light bulbs, sports shoes, pans, pedal bins, vacuum cleaners, writing utensils, rainwear, bras and batteries. And there is a toy department that is just as big as an Intertoys branch.
“You come home with stuff you didn’t intend to buy, but you do need,” says Staarink (73). He runs one of the very last classic regional department stores left in the Netherlands. At least, if you mean classic: a department store in a provincial town that has been run by the same family for generations, and with its own range. Something different from, for example, Vanderveen in Assen, a department store that accommodates various entrepreneurs.
‘I might be the very last’
Paul Staarink also lives above the store, which also earns points for the title of proud standard bearer of a disappearing phenomenon. He still remembers former regional department stores: Huls in Doetinchem, Hagen in Arnhem, Schunck in Heerlen; countless trusted addresses have been lost.
Similar shops like his are almost extinct. Yes, on Ameland you have department store Van den Brink, on Vlieland there is Houters department store, but those are more tourist paradises that are just not regional department store enough. Maybe Tigelaar in Hoogersmilde. It depends sometimes. Staarink: “I might very well be the very last”.
The department store phenomenon in its classic appearance no longer exists anyway. In no store that calls itself a department store, everything for your home can be obtained under one roof. Not in the area and not in the city. Even Vroom & Dreesmann (declared bankrupt on December 31, 2015) was no longer a ‘real’ department store. In recent years, the range has been dominated by clothing. You might no longer buy a refrigerator or camping gear in the physical stores. De Hema has never been a complete department store and De Bijenkorf has developed into a home for luxury fashion houses.
No store formula has a guarantee for eternal life
According to Philippe Hondelink, author of Vroom & Dreesmann, the rise and fall of the department store, it is a law that no store – not even one where you can buy everything you need in one fell swoop – has a guarantee of eternal life. “Retail formats come and go, that is a natural process and it is up to the entrepreneur to respond to this in good time and to stay ahead of the competition.”
Paul Staarink does not feel competition. There is a Hema branch around the corner and a Blokker a little further on. They don’t get in his way and he doesn’t get in their way either, he says in his office at the back of the store. “They at Blokker are also independent entrepreneurs. We forward our customers to each other.”
The customers of the Doesburg regional department store come from the Hanseatic town itself and from places in the area such as Angerlo and Drempt. “And then of course you have the day trippers and tourists who stay at campsites and holiday parks in the area.”
Better two things right than four things wrong
Staarink takes a seat when he is asked regarding the charm of his regional department store. What are customers looking for here besides endless stuff? Then he says: “You can walk around here casually. Be surprised by the things you see. And the fact that we are still here at all. We provide a nostalgic feeling in a modern age”.
That’s how Staarink runs his shop. The basis of his range is retained, but he does not shy away from saying goodbye to products. For example, the baby department, men’s clothing and cosmetics have disappeared. “We mightn’t compete with that anymore. It is better to do two things right than four things wrong”, says Staarink. He has seen fewer customers enter his store lately, but he says they spend more. “Inflation makes people more likely to buy quality items that last longer.”
At the age of 73, Paul Staarink is not worried regarding how things will go in the future with his regional department store. How long will that last? “I have no children, I am the last Staarink. My grandfather started the store in 1902, then my father took over and I have been doing it since 1974. I have a permanent team of staff who are eager to continue, but there is no successor. Ah, I am one of come time, come counsel. The name will remain. Suppose Mr. Jansen buys it, then he certainly won’t call it Jansen department store here. In four years we will be 125 years old. We’re going to get that, though.”
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