Jerke Kooistra, where do we know him from? Or do we actually know him?
The recent attempts to save Big Bazar from the abyss have put the company in the spotlight, but director Kooistra himself seems to prefer to remain in the shadows.
Big Bazar (over 1,400 employees) is a bargain chain founded in 2007 by Blokker Holding to compete with Action. Since the start of the corona period, the retailer has started to make losses and the debt has now risen to approximately 30 million euros. A lawsuit is now underway, in which Kooistra appears to be doing everything he can to save the company from bankruptcy.
Kooistra seems quite media shy. There is little to be found on the internet about the CEO, not even a photo. Het Financieel Dagblad outlines that trade runs in the family. Kooistra’s grandfather used to go to front doors on his cargo bike to sell loose goods.
It works through his lawyer NRC finally to speak to the CEO. His explanation for the radio silence: “Cups, saucers, plates, paint brushes. That is my life. I’m not that socially active or interesting.”
Fifty-year-old Fries is an entrepreneur through and through. “I am a wanderer who likes to be on the road. Whenever I hear about an interesting formula in France, I immediately drive there and back again tomorrow. I love trading and want to offer cheap products for the consumer.”
Kooistra does not seem to want to give up the battle with Big Bazar. Is it honorable perseverance or a case of denial phase?
Kooistra previously closed twenty loss-making branches in a total of 120 stores in the Netherlands and Belgium, and he is said to have tried to arrange rent reductions for another twenty branches.
A very last resort to keep the chain afloat could be the Whoa procedure, the Private Agreement Homologation Act, that has been in force since 2021. Fashion chain Shoeby also relied on this new scheme last week, which helps companies with high debts, but healthy business activities, to reorganize.
The Big Bazar CEO emphasized this week in conversation with the news agency ANP that all this does not necessarily mean the end of Big Bazar. He calls on suppliers to “think along” and not to become nervous. “I am hopeful that the judge will agree to the latest proposal.” Kooistra continues to say that Big Bazar is basically a healthy company, despite the significant rent arrears.
The latest news is that Big Bazar wants to sell its ten Belgian branches. With the money that this sale should generate, Big Bazar hopes to persuade the judge to grant the company more time to avoid impending bankruptcy. The company reported this on Friday during a court hearing in Leeuwarden, according to the ANP news agency.
Kooistra finds it difficult to say something about himself, what characterizes him as a person?
Lawyer Oscar van Oorschot describes his client as a ‘fighter’. A deeper motivation of the entrepreneur revolves around an old-fashioned Dutch day out: “You want to go into town and eat a stroopwafel with your children. An empty shopping street is really not what you want. All small businesses disappear. The conviviality is being pushed away, partly by high rents.”
In the absence of columnist Marike Stellinga, who is on writing leave, NRC chooses a person of the week every Saturday.
A version of this article also appeared in the September 9, 2023 newspaper.