There may still be hope for !Pet in Hoogeveen. Several parties have shown interest in restarting the bookstore. This was announced by curator Jan van Burg, who is considering the bankruptcy of the store.
“I will be talking to those people soon,” he responds. For the rest, there is not much to say about it yet, according to Van Burg. The bookstore will remain open for the time being while the investigation into a restart is ongoing.
The reason for the bankruptcy is financial problems. After the corona period, !Pet had to deal with rising energy and personnel costs, according to the management. People also more often bought a book online instead of in the store.
Take a quick look at social media and you will come across plenty of disappointed reactions about the bankruptcy. Words such as ‘incomprehensible’, ‘a loss’ and ‘worrying’ appear on the internet.
For a group of Hoogeven residents, it was the place where they spent their first hard-earned money to buy a book, they write online. Others are loyal customers and have been coming for years and regret the news.
Erwin Slomp, chairman of Binnenstad Hoogeveen, understands that they are disappointed. “Every store that may disappear is negative in itself. But !Pet is a really well-known name in Hoogeveen. Everyone knows the white building with the well-known red letters.”
!Pet also has a long history: the company’s origins date back to 1857, when Claas Pet opened its first store. This means that not only a company is at stake, but possibly also a well-known name from the center of Hoogeveen.
According to Slomp, a bookstore attracts a lot of people and an empty building doesn’t help anyone. He hopes that the store can make a new start soon. “And that otherwise another store could come in.”
Regional historian Albert Metselaar wrote stories about the company in the past. He finds the news disturbing. “A bookstore is also a means to inform people. If that disappears, that is of course not a good thing.”
In the past, !Pet also had a printing house and a publishing house. At the time, according to the historian, it was a leading company. According to him, that changed when the company sold the Hoogeveensche Courant to another publisher years ago.
“Only the word on the facade evokes something of that history,” says Metselaar. Still, he thinks it’s a shame that part of his identity may disappear. “People prefer to make a quick purchase via the internet. That’s a shame.”
A number of people on Facebook reacted the same way. “Everyone thinks it’s a shame. But did everyone buy a book here or online for convenience?”, another responds to the news.
There was previously a conflict surrounding the store about rent arrears with the building owner, although this was resolved in 2025 with a payment arrangement that prevented closure at the time.
Now that bankruptcy has been declared, the future is open. In the coming weeks, the curator will examine whether there are parties who want to continue the store and under what conditions that would be possible.
Mohamed Elhalawany, who rents the building to the bookstore, hopes the store can stay.
