Leen Bakkers 44 belgischen Geschäfte, die geschlossen oder verkauft werden sollen

The irony is that many small local furniture companies – especially here in West Flanders and pushed by organizations like Unizo and Voka – spent the past few years pouring significant (lobbying) money into keeping Ikea out of Wevelgem and blocking “big-box” stores like Leenbakker in numerous locations. The so called „baanwinkels“.

But the real challenge never came from there – it came from the rise of online retail. Today, many of those small companies are gone and closed shop, and even the competitors they fought so hard against are feeling the same pressure.

That’s exactly what happens when you keep following archaic organizations like Unizo or Voka. I’ve said it many times before: these organizations are a cancer on our society. Economically and health (burn-out numbers)

My very first job as a web developer was at an international e-commerce company. Fifteen years later, around 2012, Unizo finally released their first “e-commerce guide.” By then, the ship had already sailed. They completely missed the mark.

I bet all the 5 people who shopped there are devastated

They are quite popular in the Netherlands but my local Leen Bakker was hidden somewhere along a busy road next to a sketchy wok restaurant. I went there and what they sell is basically garbage.

It is surprising that they did so bad while jysk is growing.

12 years ago I bought chairs in a leen Bakker and even though I didn’t use them a lot, I still use them to this day and they even survived a move.

Leen Bakker used to be a place where you could get cheap furniture. I bought stuff there about 30 years ago and it was much cheaper than everywhere else. Not so long ago I walked in again and found them even expensive.