At the age of 79, she could well be the oldest stock filler in the Netherlands, Frida Cranenbroeck from Sterksel. But that doesn’t make her work any less important. Because without the seventy mainly retired voluntary workers, there would be no neighborhood supermarket in the Brabant village. “A village without a supermarket is dead”, says Cranenbroeck at Broadcasting Brabant.
She likes the work very much. Despite her advanced age, she can still bend over just fine and reach the highest shelves. “I use a mat for my knees and a stool if I can’t reach it.”
The story of the neighborhood supermarket in Sterksel, southeast of Eindhoven, started about seventeen years ago. The only supermarket was about to close. Villagers took action, united in a cooperative and started a branch of the Spar. “We started with a few fanatical villagers, but there are more and more”, says manager Bart Looijman.
Social function
Looijman (43) is the youngest and only paid employee who can be found in the neighborhood supermarket during the week. Shelf filler Frida Cranenbroeck is one of the oldest volunteers. “Every Friday morning I work with a regular club of about ten other retired villagers in the supermarket. You catch up a bit and you also get to know new residents, because Sterksel has got a new neighborhood,” she says.
Cranenbroeck and the other volunteers paid 100 euros once to buy into the cooperative. They bought the building in which the neighborhood supermarket is located more than a year ago. “The rent increased every year and the more turnover we generated, the higher the rent became,” explains manager Looijman. “We haven’t had any discussion about it.”
Cranenbroeck is somewhat co-owner of ‘her’ neighborhood supermarket, although she does not always shop. “I sometimes cheat at Lidl, because we are not the cheapest,” she says. “But it’s nice that you can do your shopping here and don’t have to drive 4 kilometers for your stuff. We even pick up villagers who are no longer so mobile. Where else can you find that?”
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