Sauna Thermen Zuidwolde has definitively closed its doors. Yesterday, the court in Assen declared the company bankrupt, which has been run since July 1, 2019 by property owner Jan van Egten and his wife Jeannette van Putten. “We started at a very unfortunate time.”
According to Van Putten, there are three main factors that have led to the current bankruptcy. “We put our heart and soul into it for four years, but lost the battle of corona, the increased energy prices and staff shortages.”
The sauna at Zuidwolde also went bankrupt in 2019, a short time later Van Egten and Van Putten decided to do the exploitation themselves.
Due to corona, the sauna had to close its doors for several periods in the first years. The increased energy prices at the beginning of the year made up for this. “This year our energy advance has almost quadrupled, from 4,000 to 15,000 euros,” explains Van Putten. “Companies that have existed for some time have had the opportunity to become more sustainable and build up reserves, but we have not had that time. As a sauna, energy costs are decisive.”
In addition, more and more staff resigned at the sauna in recent years. “They no longer wanted to work on weekends or had found another job,” says Van Putten.
“In the end, we started campaigns this year, but we couldn’t cover the energy bill with these revenues.” Sauna Thermen Zuidwolde is not the only sauna with problems, according to Van Putten.
Van Putten and her husband sit down with the curator about the future. “We will see if parties are interested in buying or renting our property.” But first she contacts her customers, who, for example, still had a reservation. “That’s a very annoying thing to do.”