At 65, Willy De Coninck is retiring. His wife Arlette, 60 years old and co-manager of a brand, has meanwhile decided to return to her job as a full-time nurse, she who only worked in this store when she was discharged from hospital.
An institution that is leaving after almost 38 years of opening: “Limburg seemed to be the ideal place for us, in particular because no company was selling typical Scandinavian furniture there. We first rented a room near the dancing Lorka. We stayed there for two years, until our own construction in the same street was finished,” he explains to the Nieuwsblad.
“I worked 60 hours a week. We were only closed for Christmas and New Years, otherwise we were open seven days a week. We never missed a single customer, explains Willy.
Arlette, she worked at night in pediatrics in a hospital in Brussels. “The days when I didn’t have to work, I was in the store”
From now on, they will be able to devote themselves to their favorite activities not without difficulty, because they were very close to their customers: “We have loyal customers. In the meantime, we have been on cycling holidays in Denmark three times, each time with around 20 clients. For our anniversaries, we invited the best customers to a restaurant every ten years. It was weird at first, because we knew everyone, but they didn’t know each other. As a result, some of them have become real friends and that makes us very happy. »
Friendship obliges, the most loyal customers were notified before the others to allow them to obtain their favorite items at a better price. “In 38 years, we have never sold so much in one day. »