Michel Wösten (37) from Klazienaveen has always dreamed of running its own supermarket. And that dream will become reality next week. Albert Heijn will open its doors on 4 March. It is the sixth supermarket in the Zuidoost-Drentse village with 12,000 inhabitants. With Wösten at the helm as manager.
The Wösten born and raised in Klazienaveen has already made a lot of kilometers in supermarket country. At the age of sixteen he started at the Edah in his own village. Super de Boer and the Plus followed later. After a few business training, he became involved in the arrival of the Dirk van de Broek on the Willinkplein in Emmen. “But that chain does not take franchise entrepreneurs, only shop managers,” said Wösten, who wanted more.
And that chance passed on January 23, 2023. He remembers the date by heart. “Then the newspaper stated that Albert Heijn would come to our village.” Wösten fell for moment, put on the bad shoes and contacted the Van den Tweel family. This multifranchiser has six Albert Heijnwinkels under his care. With Klazienaveen as the youngest location. “It was all settled in a few days,” he laughs. “In my own village and 1200 meters from my house. I started here and now I come home again.”
The Albert Heijn, who is on the site of the demolished gone = on Voordeelshop, is almost ready. In addition to 1500 square meters of retail space, the complex consists of nine owner -occupied homes spread over two storeys on top of the store.
In the basement under the super there will be a parking cellar with fifty places. A special technical gadget has been applied to the electricity. “Because of the overcrowded electricity grid, the store could not get a connection in the short term,” Alkema explains. “But we have succeeded in running the store on a home, garden and kitchen connection. Three large battery packages catch the peak moments, as in the morning when switching on lighting and equipment.”
Friday is the delivery of the project and it will become clear whether this is sufficient. The following weekend is the filling. More than a hundred employees, including a fixed core of twenty, will work under the leadership of Wösten.
Klazienaveen plays an important role for the region as a shopping village. Neighborhood villages often have little or no shops, so many residents from the area come to it. “Including the south of Emmen,” said Wösten. But in or near the Klazienaveen shopping heart are already a Jumbo, Lidl, Aldi, Plus and a Boni. Isn’t a sixth a bit much of a good thing?
According to project developer Vincent Alkema, who, together with Wim Beekman and Peter van Dijk, signs for the project, market research shows that there is indeed a market for that. “It is a distinctive formula that really adds something.”
Albert Heijn is also the market leader, with competitor Jumbo in second place. But the latter has six supermarkets in the municipality of Emmen and at AH the counter has so far stuck on two. “In short, there was still some terrain gain to be achieved,” says Alkema.