After 11.5 years the Voor & Deel thrift store closes

Perhaps they could have saved themselves for a while, because they didn’t have to leave yet. But the uncertainty about when it would be that far and a shortage of staff meant that the decision was made prematurely. Owner Ans Schmit, who runs the shop with her husband and son, has mixed feelings about it.

“I’m going to miss it so much. The customers and the colleagues. But on the other hand, we knew it was going to happen,” she says. Ans often has to step in due to a shortage of staff and that is no longer possible because of her age.

Community centre

The thrift shop was founded by her husband and her son. Ans herself initially had little feeling for it. “But at the beginning I helped a little. And then I discovered that there is nothing I like as much as this work,” she says.

The store is more than just a thrift shop. “We have regular customers who come several times a week. We also have customers who meet each other here and then chat for an hour,” says Ans. “Everyone is really sad that we are leaving. We are a kind of community centre.”

In their early days, the store organised a large annual breakfast for customers of the food bank. “Regular customers would sometimes bring flowers for the table. We also organised a fashion show twice a year. For the winter collection and the summer collection. The staff would walk the catwalk.”

Apartment building

The shop is now being demolished for an apartment building. The building next to them must also make way, a pet shop that has been there for 60 years. It was bought by Schepers Vastgoed. That building is being converted into a private home. The apartment building that will be built on the site of the thrift shop will consist of fifteen private apartments. It is not known how long it will take before construction starts. But Ans and her husband did not want to be in the dark and have given notice of termination. July 31 is their last day.

Last Friday, Ans and her husband informed the staff that the doors were closing. “Everyone was a bit distraught, there were a few tears. But we will say goodbye with our heads held high.”