For almost 100 years, the brand was as well known as Albert Heijn or Jumbo. Entire tribes of people did their shopping at Edah every week. The supermarket had its head office in Helmond and disappeared from the streets in 2009.
“Almost everyone in Brabant went to the Edah,” says Berrie Janssen of the Edah museum. He is still very proud of the company where he worked until his retirement. “We were in almost every village in Brabant. All the people who worked there did so with pleasure.” Janssen comes from a real Edah family. His father also worked for the supermarket. It is therefore not surprising that he is still connected to the Edah museum in Helmond, the only tangible remnant of a glorious history.
Ebben, Dames, Aukes and Hettema were the four grocery families that started a collaboration around 1910. The initials of the originally Frisian grocers form the name of the new formula: Edah. They wanted to provide a counterbalance to the well-known De Gruyter stores. In the decades that followed, Edah grew like crazy, with almost 300 stores throughout the Netherlands at its peak.
“The Helmond soul has always remained.”
Berrie Janssen describes the Edah feeling as solidarity. Until the 1970s, Edah was mainly active in Brabant. After that it increasingly became a national chain. But the Helmond soul remained. Janssen: “All those new employees also got that feeling. They felt involved. Brabanders have that mentality that we have to do it together. That is in our soul.”
When the group was taken over by Laurus in 1998, things went downhill. “There was a merger with Super de Boer and then the soul left,” says Janssen, still with some sadness in his voice. It gave him sleepless nights at the time. The last store closed in the summer of 2008.
The rich history of the Brabant supermarket can still be seen in the Edah museum in Helmond. Volunteers there keep Edah alive. “If you want to visit us, the coffee is always ready,” says Janssen with a good dose of Edah hospitality.
00s Weekend on Omroep Brabant
All weekend long we will be going back to the ‘zeroes’ on Omroep Brabant radio. That was already about 20 years ago. We reminisce, such as the demise of Edah, and of course play the best songs from that decade. So go back to the time of MSN, Nokia telephones and Hyves. And sing along with Britney Spears, Jody Bernal and K-otic!
