The last day for Gerda’s tobacco and convenience store in Zaandijk did not just pass. Customers said goodbye with flowers and presents and mourn: “It is not just an entrepreneur who leaves. The business has a neighborhood function that should actually be preserved.”
“They were shocked when they heard that I would stop,” says Gerda Swart about her regular customers. “A lot of people have shared joys and sorrows here. They don’t like it.”
A major renovation is planned in the Rode Buurt in Zaandijk, where the store is located in the middle of the houses. After a long run-up, the renovation of Gerda’s building turned out to take six months longer than previously thought.
In addition, Gerda has to deal with legislation that makes it difficult to have a parcel point in the same room where she sells cigars. She was previously fined 1,800 euros by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), which she obviously does not want to receive more of.
Lots of run-up
“After that fine I decided: ‘this is impossible’. It is an emotional decision, but I now support it,” says Gerda. She gets a lot of visitors on the last day the store is open. Customers chat, say they would like to help her get rid of her last stock and press flowers into her hands. “It’s not easy to keep your head above water,” says one of them sympathetically. “It’s no longer fun for the entrepreneur.”
The store has been raided twice in recent years. The first time in 2019 – Gerda was then tied up by three young men – and the second time in 2021. “But I didn’t want to let myself be known. I thought: ‘I’m not going to stop for this, am I?'”
She is proud of what she has achieved: “Even though this is not on a through route, I thought I could turn this into an authentic shop that people would detour from. Well, it worked out great.”