Anja Stevens is now really quitting the home furnishings store, in which she put her heart and soul for more than 40 years. Daughter Yvette (37) and son-in-law Jacob Dijks (48) continue with an exclusive shop for interior perfumes in part of the building.
The 68-year-old woman wants to enjoy life even more. After the death of her husband Dick in 2016, she suddenly found herself on her own, including in the company. She received help in running the store from her son-in-law, who also had a fireplace department in the home furnishings store, and later her daughter also helped out more often.
Yvette and Jacob and their family have been living in the house above the shop, her parental home, for five years now. She participates in the company and also has a part-time job as a nurse in the neonatology intensive care unit at the UMCG, where newborn babies who need extra medical care are admitted.
Until recently, mother and grandmother Anja still worked fully in the company. “It is very nice work to do,” she says. “There is a lot involved, purchasing, selling, accounting, and so on.”
Family business has been around for 75 years
As an experienced former bank employee, she always did the administration herself. She learned the tricks of selling from her husband Dick. “Almost no customer left without buying something.” Since 1982, the Stevens couple have held sway over the furniture company that was started by Henk de Vries in Klazienaveen in 1949. “He married Dick Stevens’ mother later in life. That’s how I met Dick. Henk was my uncle, my father’s brother.”
A lot has changed in the company over the years. It once had its own sewing workshop, where Anja and her employees made custom curtains. “Nowadays it is all outsourced.” Since the arrival of the new generation, the store has become more modern and larger with a complete range of home furnishings. But that will stop soon. Now there is a total sale. It will remain that way for a while. “But other people do that.”
In fact, the family had been discussing for years how and when Anja would stop. “Every year another year passed, so we went a few years further,” says her daughter. “The decision was really made in January last year.” They decided together that Anja would enjoy her well-deserved free time and that things would also change within the company.
New shop named after mother
The home furnishings store already has a department in which exclusive interior perfumes from the house of Maison Berger are sold. These are burners that keep the air in the house clean and give it a nice smell.
“That’s going well. We also have a nice collection,” says Yvette. “Customers who hear that we are stopping the furniture ask whether we will no longer sell the perfumes. They would find that very unfortunate. We have good news for those customers. We will continue with the interior perfumes in our own shop at the front of the building. It will be called AN THE LUX , it is a reference to my mother.”
The shop, which also includes a ‘concept store’ including a silk flower company, will open in March.
The best news comes from Anja herself. She has had a new love for three years: Herman Haverkort (74) from Steenwijksmoer. They knew each other as colleagues from the furniture purchasing group from the past. He is the owner of Haverkort Interieurs in Steenwijksmoer. After a chance meeting, Anja and Herman started a relationship after a while. They live together in Dalen. “I have some nice news. We are getting married on June 3,” Anja laughs.