Two violent bomb attacks in Winschoten hit Samantha Tempel’s Gameshop and Pier Mario Ariu’s barbershop. How are both entrepreneurs doing now? “I slept poorly again last night,” says Tempel. And Ariu also has difficulty falling asleep at night. “You know, this costs you so much money and income.”
For two consecutive nights, the Langestraat in the shopping center of Winschoten was shocked by bomb explosions in mid-September. The first destroyed part of Sammy’s Gameshop. The second caused major damage less than 25 meters away in and to Barbershop Five Star. The police suspect that both attacks are related to a settlement in the criminal circuit of Winschoten, in which it now appears that the Syrian family A . almost collectively plays the leading role of villain.
Tempel has opened its computer games store again. But game enthusiasts still cannot enter her business via the shopping street. The shutters have not yet been replaced and are still blackened, the lick of cheerful graffiti cannot erase the memory of the explosion.
‘If those shutters hadn’t been there, then…’
Her clientele must find her shop in an alley perpendicular to the Langestraat via a makeshift side entrance through the back door (intended for staff). “Regular customers know that now, I will see them again,” says Tempel (30). “But I also have to rely on impulse buyers. But they still think my game shop is closed.”
Her insurer does not want to fully reimburse her roller shutters – extra safe, because they were intended for a jewelry store that was previously there. “It’s unfortunate, because if those shutters had not been there, the damage to the store would have been much greater. And they should have paid that.”
She is also fighting another battle with the insurer that has to compensate her loss of income. “So it looks at my income from the previous three months. That was the summer. Then I sell fewer games. My business has been around for two years and turnover has doubled in 2022. For me, the time for Sinterklaas and Christmas is the best period. I already had all kinds of wrapping paper in the store.”
Tempel has called in a counter-expert in its battle with the insurers. “The whole hassle with the insurance is currently causing me more stress than the bomb explosion. And last night I had trouble sleeping again because a neighbor shouted at my intern that we were ‘closing’. I called the police, but they couldn’t do anything.”
They came here specially from Groningen
What pleases her is the support and help she is offered. “There is a whole group ready that is willing to help clean, tidy up and move, if that happens.” Also the crowdfunding that has been set up for her is doing her good. “A donation campaign like this is great,” says Tempel. “What I found especially sweet is that new customers came from Groningen who had heard about the attack. They came to Sammy’s Gameshop especially to support me by buying something from me.”
Boom and there was silence
For hairdresser Pier Mario Ariu (31), it was boom, and then it was quiet. And it will remain so for a while, fears Ariu, who, like Tempel, has a family to support. “No, my barbershop is not open yet. That is not possible under the current circumstances. The floor is still missing, and a large part of the contents have been destroyed,” says Ariu. He does cut some acquaintances.
The hairdresser was a good acquaintance of Omar, one of the victims of the A. family, who was hit in the knee when they shot him. This happened on July 6 when a stabbing in the afternoon at Toscana ice cream parlor was followed by violence in the evening at the closed AM Autobedrijf on Transportbaan. That garage belongs to the A. family, two members of which – father Hussein and son Habib – were arrested by the police on suspicion of involvement in the series of violence.
‘Yes, that is very bad now’
After the first bomb at the Gameshop, the hairdresser alerted the police, because he already suspected that it was intended for him. “I closed the days after specifically for the safety of my customers. But the police did nothing with my report. They didn’t have the people or time to handle my case 24-7 to guard, they said. But it is now costing us a lot of money.”
Ariu is now mainly concerned about what to do next for him and his Barbershop Five Star, which, like Tempels Gameshop, was open for two years. “I haven’t been sleeping very well lately. My biggest concern now is not that another attack will be committed, but that all my fixed costs will continue as normal. And I had no loss of income insurance. Yes, that is very bad now.”
Nevertheless, the hairdresser is busy with an insurer about compensation for the damage in his salon, which was destroyed by the bomb. The completely destroyed facade is the landlord’s bag. “If everything goes well with the contractor and the renovation, I might be able to open again in two months.”
There is also one for the affected hairdresser crowdfunding started. Nice intention, he thinks, but it doesn’t really help him yet. And unlike Tempel, Ariu has not yet heard from the municipality of Oldambt. “Whether I have had support from the municipality? No not yet. But maybe that’s also because I don’t know how something like that works,” says Pier Mario, condoning.