Our rich
history
Nijssen Jr. has a rich history. For more than fifty years we have been doing what we do best, supplying a wide and diverse flower assortment to importers - Cash & Carries with the best service - and means of transport.
Founding
The company Nijssen Jr. originated from the flower and plant trade that Pim Nijssen had around Santpoort-Noord in the late 1960s.
Around 1965, when Pim had just left service, he started with markets stands around Santpoort and in Amsterdam. Later a store was added in Haarlem. Pim bought his flowers at the auction in Beverwijk. But Pim could also be found in Westland, Rijnsburg and Aalsmeer for trade. It was hard work in those years and the margins were small. Peter Nijssen, Pim’s older brother, also helped in the company, but kept his job at NOB Weg Transport. Today this is called Transport Logistiek Nederland. At the auction Pim heard that you could earn more with export. Through the contacts of his father Jaap Nijssen, Pim tried to set up an export line. Father Jaap and two brothers had a company exporting bulbs, mainly to the south of Germany near Stuttgart.
In March 1968 Pim sent his first shipment of flowers to the firm Pfitzenmaier in Besigheim. This shipment went by plane to Stuttgart. Nijssen Jr. was born.
Expansion of customer base
Pim expanded his customer base with Hoffmeister. Pim did an internship here. As with Vahldiek, Schneider and Bubeck. A Hanomag Henschel van was purchased and three times a week Pim drove around 15 to 20 large boxes of flowers to Stuttgart and the surrounding area.
entry into service Nico Beentjes
Due to a growing demand for flowers and a broadening of the range, Pim also made use of buyers who worked at other companies. This is also the case for Nico Beentjes, who was working for another company at the time, but regularly did business with Pim. The two gentlemen clicked. In 1972 Nico started at Nijssen Jr. as the first purchaser. Around the years ‘74 / ’75, Nijssen JR. took over its first box in the auction of Aalsmeer, street 1 box no. 10. Through Tinus Metselaar from Limmen, Pim bought another 2 large Hanomag Henschels and more and more flower trade went to Germany.
Nijssen Jr. fleet
In the beginning, Nijssen Jr. mainly dealt with tulips and roses, but the range was soon expanded. A larger vehicle was purchased, and the first staff also entered the company. The shipments to Germany now included about 40 to 50 boxes. Peter Nijssen also worked full-time in the company.
At the end of the 1970s, the vans are exchanged and the first truck arrives. A Mercedes box truck, which again increases the capacity to transport flowers. The fleet is then quickly expanded to 4 trucks. Later still, the trucks were equipped with a trailer, so that they could continue to be transported in-house as much as possible.
New sales regions
In the 1980s, the company continues to grow and volumes are increasing. Nijssen Jr. makes a first delivery to Guernsey. Here it supplies growers, who could offer their range more widely to the local flower shops.
The wings were also spread towards Luxembourg. A former customer of father Jaap Nijssen approached Pim with the request to supply them with flowers and plants. And so, a small customer base was built up in Luxembourg as well.
Later, Tenerife was added to the list of destinations. Through a bulb exporter they knew, Nijssen Jr. flowers supplied flowers, broadening the customer’s range as much as possible here too.
Acquisition of Nico Beentjes and René Warmerdam
In the early 1990s, René Warmerdam joined Nijssen Jr. At that time he took a some of his father’s former customers with him, as well an old flower merchant. These customers were looking for a new supplier due to company closure. Switzerland was also added to the list of countries, and the market share on the German market was further expanded and strengthened.
In 1998 Pim and Peter Nijssen decided to withdraw from the flower trade and handed over the business to Nico Beentjes and René Warmerdam.
Nijssen Jr. moves to the Prunus on VBA-South
The company was further expanded under the leadership of Nico Beentjes and René Warmerdam. In 2002 this resulted in a relocation from the old auction building to the VBA-Zuid business park, newly realised by the auction.
There Nijssen Jr. the Prunus 35, a brand-new box with new cool storage and offices. A completely new working environment, which gave Nijssen Jr. and its staff a huge boost. The fleet remained ‘up to date’ with new fully refrigerated truck combinations, and the number of employees also increased steadily.
Co-owner René Warmerdam passes
Erik-Jaap Kroone joined the company in 2008 with the aim of slowly taking over the work and position of Nico Beentjes in order to lead the company together with René Warmerdam in the future. Unfortunately, this never came about.
On January 26, 2008, Nijssen Jr. experienced one of its darkest days. On his way to the IPM in Essen, René Warmerdam was killed in a car accident at the age of 48. All plans and ideas were lost in one fell swoop.
The impact of René’s death was enormous, and the future was uncertain for a moment. But due to the incredible commitment of our entire staff and customer base, and the loyalty to Nijssen Jr., the company has continued to thrive as René wanted. “Providing the world with beautiful - and above all, quality products every day!”
Prunus business space doubled
Nijssen Jr. was given the opportunity to double the company in terms of surface area because the neighbours moved internally within the multi-company building. And that doubling of the area was desperately needed. Due to the continued steady growth, Nijssen Jr. can work better and more efficiently with more space.
Commissioning KOA space
As of 2009, the construction of a completely new purchasing space, ‘KOA space’ as it is technically known, started. The physical auctioning of the products is declining rapidly, which means that sitting in a grandstand is no longer of this time. The space was put into use in mid-2010 and purchasing has been fully modernised with all auctions remotely accessible from one space.
Acquisition of Nijssen Jr. by Erik-Jaap Kroone
Erik-Jaap Kroone took over from Nico Beentjes and is still in charge.
50 years of Nijssen Jr.
The 50th anniversary was celebrated in June with an anniversary weekend in Egmond aan Zee with the entire staff, supporters and a large part of the customer base. It was a weekend to remember!
