It’s been a year since the Dane closed its first stores, after the company was sold to three other supermarket chains. But what is left of the memories of this West Frisian company after a year? Does the Dane’s feeling still live on? NH Nieuws will look back every day next week at the disappeared supermarket. Reporter Maurice Blaauw speaks today with cherry grower Erik Appelman from Wognum, he sold his cherries to the Dane for years.
Erik was shocked when he heard the news last year that the Dane would stop. “It was my biggest customer after all,” Erik says. However, the concerns are still there. “I was already approached by Albert Heijn last year to sell my cherries to them.”
Nevertheless, the grower sold the Albert Heijn ‘no’ last year. “I still had empty packaging with the Deen print on it. I didn’t think it was sustainable to throw it away after all. The Albert Heijn understood this,” laughs Erik. In the end, all those packaging went up and there were even cherries with neutral packaging on the shelves at the Dane.
This year the grower had to find another customer for his product. “Cherries are soft fruit and that is very popular at the moment,” says Erik. That popularity ensured that he was approached by both the DekaMarkt and the Albert Heijn.
“I talked to both of them and that went very well. It didn’t matter to me, but in the end I opted for the DekaMarkt,” says Erik. The fact that the products stay a little more in the region where they were grown may also be the reason why the dime has fallen in favor of that supermarket. “Although my cherries were eventually sold in South Holland as well,” Erik laughs.
According to the grower, the supermarkets know exactly what to offer for the fruit. “It is not the case that one offers more than the other, the Dane also paid just as much”, Erik knows.
And although Erik likes that his products are sold in the region, he does not miss the Dane. “The collaboration was great, but it is now,” says Erik. He adds that the buyer of the Dane was an acquaintance from his youth. “I always thought it was nice and cozy when he came by, maybe I’ll miss that.”