Continue until you really can’t anymore: that is what Joep Adank from Breda has done. The 89-year-old shopkeeper still worked every day in his drugstore in the center of Breda. Yet Joep’s iconic Blue Shop with Licorice has now been completely emptied, because he is in a nursing home.
The drugstore was a household name in Breda for more than a century. Joep took over the company from his mother. He worked in the business for almost seventy years. The store on Boschstraat still had the character of a drugstore from the 1950s: everything was behind glass.
Drop from Joep was a phenomenon. The drugstore sold 104 different types of licorice. There was always a current and funny saying in front of the window. “Trump tweets to Kim-Jong-Un. Hi little Rocketman, Joep’s Drop, that’s what you have to do!”.
With a walker in the shop
“I only come to play shuffleboard in the nursing home,” Joep told Omroep Brabant in 2019. He walked persistently through the store with a walker. Yet recently there was suddenly a farewell saying on the door. “Strolling on this Bosche path, one can only guess at the taste. An exercise in nostalgia, having to miss Joep’s Drop.”
A more detailed explanation has been posted a few days ago. “Unfortunately, Joep has had to stop the business he was so proud of. He lives in the Ruitersbos residential care center and he is doing well. Joep would greatly appreciate hearing from former customers of his store. surprise?” is the appeal for a man who left quietly.
Many relatives of the strong senior have now passed away. “Joep is an icon. His store was truly an institution,” says Guido de Bue, from comic book store De Stripspecialist, a few buildings away. “Joep was mainly concerned with the contacts and the fun.”
Endangered species
“The authentic shop of the past is an endangered species.” The older city center resident still knew where to find him. In the end it was only open a few hours a week. He stopped earlier, but the store has only been empty for a week or two, Guido knows. “It’s very strange that his business is gone. I’ve known him all my life. I’m going to miss him enormously.”
Watch the video to see how Joep still proudly stood in his business in 2019.