From 25,000 cucumbers to the storage of 710 campers and caravans: it was a golden move for the Smeets family from Helmond. “We are completely booked. The phone is ringing off the hook,” says Monique Smeets. “Some people have already called 30 addresses. There is no room anywhere.”
At the location where Monique once ran a greenhouse horticulture company with her husband Johan and son Rick, they set up a storage location at the beginning of last year. The expectation was that the former cucumber greenhouses would be completely filled with campers and caravans after about three years. “But now, a year and a half later, we are already completely full.”
Especially since the corona epidemic, the number of people purchasing a camper or caravan has increased. But of course they have to be stored somewhere. Although they are also springing up like mushrooms in Brabant, there is still an acute shortage, according to a spokesperson for the Dutch Camper Car Club.
“That was a lot of work, but you just shouldn’t look at the end when you’re doing it.”
“We heard that a lot of people were looking for storage space,” says Johan. “And since we have a lot of space, we thought: that’s a good idea!” Together with his wife and son, he filled the greenhouse complex with clinkers. It took three trucks of bricks. “A lot of work, but you just shouldn’t look at the end when you’re doing it,” he laughs.
Customers now come from far and wide: Nijmegen, Nootdorp, Breda, Tilburg, Maastricht, Valkenswaard. “People can pick up their camper via an app, which my husband will prepare. For safety reasons, our customers will never enter the storage site,” Monique explains.
“I have now discovered that I really enjoy working with people.”
For her 24-year-old son Rick, the transition from cucumbers to campers and caravans took some getting used to. “That decision was tough, because I always had in mind to continue with the cucumbers,” says the co-owner of Stalling de Weyer. “You are going to do something completely different and you don’t know at that moment whether it will be a success.”
That is different now. This also applies to his parents. “I discovered that I really enjoy working with people,” father Johan beams. And Monique has also completely changed her mind. “I didn’t like it much at first, because I took over the company from my parents. But I wouldn’t want to go back now. This is much quieter and you have no staff. And we now have the weekend!”