After almost fifty years, cheese farmer Jan Visser from Groningen stops selling cheese in Peize. He is winding down to retire. “Everything in due time, I always say.”
“We are going to miss you, Jan,” a woman sighs after she has paid. She hands over a gift to Visser. “How sweet, huh. Thank you,” he smiles. Will he miss this? “You live for this,” Visser responds. “I made this decision a long time ago. So everything in due time.”
He won’t stop selling cheese completely. On Friday afternoon he is still at the weekly market in Haren. “I’m going to do that for as long as I feel like it.”
Although Visser will not miss the cheese trade in Peize, he will miss his customers. “You’ve obviously built up a bond with it over the years.”
“But that wears out quickly,” he says. “Coincidentally, last Saturday I walked to the fish market in Groningen, where I have been for years, and then I notice that I don’t miss it. I like not having that obligation anymore.”
With the retirement of cheesemonger Visser, the last stall of the weekly market in Peize will also disappear. Last few years it was still there alone, after the fish stall decided to put an end to it earlier.