Back in 1947, my pragmatic grandfathers Van Woerkom were the first to open self-service grocery in The Netherlands.
Below history has always inspired me both privately and in business to focus on progress, execution and pragmatism.
“Please go ahead and analyze it further, while we proceed with its execution in the meantime.”
A little history on the first self-service grocery in The Netherlands, 1947.
Inspired by the growing trend of self-service stores in the U.S., my grandfather and his brother were the very first to introduce the concept of self-service grocery shopping in their shop in Nijmegen. When their fellow shop owners in 1947 proposed jointly traveling to the U.S. to learn about the new trend, the Van Woerkom brothers replied: “Please go ahead and analyze it further, while we proceed with its execution in the meantime.”
They equipped the store with shelves, display cases, and packaging materials, providing customers with baskets and requiring them to leave their bags at the entrance to prevent theft.
They advertised with the slogan, ‘Self-service means saving money,’ and on November 26, 1948, opened the first self-service supermarket in the Netherlands, just before their friends returned from their study trip. The concept attracted widespread attention and was seen as a revolution in the shopping experience. By 10 years later, they had inspired 1,000 more self-service stores. Self-service became the standard. Today, we account more than 6,500 supermarkets in the Netherlands.”
