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AMSTERDAM – The impending bankruptcy of the Blokker retail chain is causing a wave of panic among Dutch housewives. If the retail chain does not quickly find new financiers, pans, scourers and other useful household items will temporarily become more difficult to obtain. Yet there is a glimmer of hope. Organizations from various countries are ready to provide emergency assistance. The UN, Unicef and the Red Cross are also trying to prevent households in the Netherlands from coming to a standstill with emergency transport.
Blokker, once the mecca for Dutch household goods, seems to be collapsing due to a flood of unsold pans, broken vacuum cleaners and an unclear strategy. If the retail chain goes bankrupt, our country is in danger of ending up in a deep household crisis.
Help is now coming from all over the world to prevent Dutch housewives from running out of supplies. Several countries have already pledged support. French President Emmanuel Macron called the situation at Blokker “a blow to European household stability” and promised to provide Dutch families with pans, buckets and storage boxes as part of a larger European action. The US ambassador to the Netherlands, Robert Allen, has since hinted that the United States is ready to “purchase strategic household supplies” to prevent the Dutch household system from collapsing.
Photo: SmyrnaStok / Shutterstock.com
In this distribution center of the aid organization HumanAid, waste bins and mops are ready to meet the first needs.
For many Dutch people it is clear: a household without Blokker is like a country without a royal family: it may be possible, but it does not feel good. It is feared that the Dutch household will collapse without Blokker. Or, as 55-year-old Toos from Capelle aan den IJssel puts it: “Where on earth am I going to get my tea towels?”
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