At a time when small entrepreneurs are collapsing because they are losing the battle against the large chains, the local supermarket Stratman in Tivoli in Eindhoven is rock solid. “Sometimes things get stormy”. In fact, the local shop of Toon Stratman (82) in the Tivoli district of Eindhoven has been around for 55 years.
Toon has always been the sole owner. He used to have a staff of three and his then wife also helped. It was at a time when supermarkets were not yet that big.
These were golden times for Toon. “I had a turnover of 500,000 guilders a year at the time. They were standing in line”, he says.
“Those were different times. We mainly sold potatoes, vegetables, fruit and some groceries”. Now people come for a single item, sometimes a basket.
Toon has had a low shelve full of sweets especially for the children in the neighbourhood for years. You get a bit of an old-fashioned idea of a candy store. Toon is busy with it.
The store is open four days a week. On the days it is closed, he takes care of his pigeons and does the shopping. He lives opposite the store, so that’s easy.
“Sometimes people ask for an errand after closing time, but I don’t do that, otherwise you never have free time”. He only makes an exception for good friends. After his divorce it was necessary that he continued to work.
Working and interacting with people gives him satisfaction. “Otherwise you’ll just be looking at the geraniums”. Daughter Nancy also used to help ou.