Online supermarket Picnic has started delivering groceries in the Roosendaal region again. At the end of December, the distribution point on the Borchwerf industrial estate in Roosendaal was completely destroyed by a large fire. The company has found a new building nearby from which they will deliver the groceries to customers.
The new ‘hub’ of nine hundred square meters on Bosstraat was opened on Wednesday. It concerns temporary accommodation for a year in the same industrial area. In the meantime, the company is looking for a permanent place.
“We are very happy that we can get back to work here so quickly. We have gone through a difficult period, but we have also received a lot of support from customers,” says branch manager Jordi Douw. He and his colleagues are busy on Wednesday to load the first orders.
Before the fire, the company served about twelve hundred households a week from Roosendaal. “I am afraid that we have lost customers due to the fire. However, most will understand that there is nothing we can do about this. I therefore hope that they will give us a chance to rebuild it here,” says Jordi Douw .
Immediately after the fire, the internet supermarket was offered help from various fellow entrepreneurs in the area. Picnic director Michiel Muller calls this support ‘heartwarming’.
The temporary accommodation is owned by real estate company Brisck in Oisterwijk. The building was actually to be demolished. When director Arno Hermkes heard about the fire, he decided to leave the shed for a while and rent it out to the online supermarket.