Garden center chain Tuinland, with its head office in Assen, was taken over last Tuesday by Ranzijn Tuin & Dier from Alkmaar. The four stores in Assen, Groningen, Zwolle and Wilp in Gelderland will remain open under the new owner. The office with support staff in Assen will eventually close.
Staff from all branches were informed about the takeover last night in Zwolle by the management of both companies. Ranzijn will take over at least 220 store employees. The staff at the head office in Assen partly doubles that of Ranzijn. According to a Ranzijn spokesperson, a social plan or other solution will be provided to employees who cannot stay.
Owner Girbe Drenth announced last year that he intended to sell the branches. “Then he threw some balls at the well-known garden centers,” says operational manager of Tuinland Contante Roman.
There were two reasons for Drenth to sell. “Nationally, garden centers and therefore also the Tuinland branches are under great financial pressure,” Roman explains. “We are faced with major increased costs, such as personnel and energy. In addition, consumers are spending less money on plants and home accessories.”
The age of owner Drenth also plays a role. “He is 71 and his children are not interested in succession. That is why it is great that Ranzijn, also a family business, wanted to take over all four branches.”
Ranzijn garden and animal, like Tuinland, is a chain of garden and animal centers, but also has its own animal clinics. The company has sixteen branches, mainly in the Randstad and one in Friesland. “We have the desire to expand and that is why Tuinland came our way, in a region in which we do not yet operate,” says a spokesperson for Ranzijn.
According to the spokesperson, not much will change for customers in the near future. In the near future, Ranzijn will convert the Tuinland branches and make them more sustainable, starting with the branches in Zwolle and Groningen. All four stores should be fully converted by March 2028. It is not yet entirely certain whether veterinarians will also be available at the Tuinland branches. “But we do plan to do that,” says the spokesperson.
Tuinland’s exuberant Christmas department is not continued by Ranzijn, which focuses much less on home decoration and more on the animal department. “We have a different interpretation of Christmas, with a wide range of Christmas trees. We also have pendants and lighting, but we clearly have a different focus.”
With the takeover, a 107-year-old Drenthe family business will disappear. The predecessor of Tuinland was founded in 1919 in Assen by Girbe Drenth, as a nursery of vegetable plants. Son Henk Drenth expanded the company into a self-service garden center in the late 1960s.
The branch later became part of Intratuin, a partnership of various garden centers. Additional branches were opened in Groningen, Zwolle and Wilp. In 2004, Tuinland continued independently under the current owner Girbe Drenth, named after the founder.
Drenth stepped down as an active director in 2023, after Tuinland came under controversy due to a culture of fear. Employees complained about a reign of terror, mainly by Drenth’s partner and co-owner Serena Drenth. She also took a step back after the commotion.
The garden center came under a magnifying glass at the Dutch Labor Inspectorate, which concluded a year later that working conditions improved after the owners resigned. According to Ranzijn, the current management will no longer play a role in the future, except for a transition period.
Tuinland could not yet be reached for a response.
