Schunck

Expansion

By 1964, personnel size of the now 90 year-old firm had increased to 700 at the main store, 125 in Geleen, and almost 1000 in total. On 16 September of that year Schunck expanded even further, when the main store moved to an even bigger building in Heerlen, about 100 m to the West of the "Glaspaleis", at the Promenade, a big new project of the city, creating the largest metropolitan shopping boulevard in the South of the Netherlands. The opening attracted around 5000 visitors, causing a traffic chaos.

The huge new building, which took a mere year and a half to construct, is 4 times bigger than the Glaspaleis, not in height but in surface area. The 10 escalators have a capacity of 10,000 people per hour. The building had cost around ten million gulden and was the largest store and one of the largest business buildings in the South of the Netherlands. As with the Glaspaleis, people also said of this new building that it was a foolhardy undertaking. The shopping capacity of Heerlen had grown to be much greater than one would expect from a town this size. As mayor Gijzels pointed out during the opening ceremonies, Heerlen now had the largest department store capacity per number of inhabitants in the country. (Conversely, the number of specialty shops was, at one per 77 inhabitants, actually much lower than the national average of one per 59.) But Leo Schunck said that it was a matter of trust in the future of the region. He pointed out that Heerlen was still growing and had developed into the shopping centre of the region, serving about 200.000 people (not counting nearby Germany and Belgium). And this region is in turn located in the heart of what is called the 'industial triangle' of Western Europe, with a population of 40 million. Based on the European unification process, Leo Schunck even speculated on the economic opening of the borders. Considering that Dutch Limburg is a wedge that is bordered by Germany and Belgium, with Heerlen at its tip, even more customers could be attracted. But that unification process was to take place only decades later, shortly after the firm had ceased to exist, as a result of a treaty in nearby Maasticht.

Several authorities, including the minister of Economic Affairs Andriessen, had assured, or at least insinuated, that the continued exploitation of the mines was guaranteed. However, in 1965 many were already operating at a loss and from 1966 to 1974 they would all be closed, which would have its impact on all businesses, including Schunck.

For the new store (as with the Glaspaleis) inspiration was sought throughout Europe, including visits to the US and Sweden (especially the redevelopment of the Stockholm city centre and its effect on shopping was a good example because it was better adapted to the European situation). The new store wasn't just much bigger, but featured an extended assortment, a selection one would expect of a modern warehouse store. Clothing, Schunck's mainstay, was still dominant, on floors 1 (children), 2 (ladies) and 3 (gents) (with 47 fitting rooms ). In the Glaspaleis, customers were welcome to have a cup of coffee at the penthouse (serviced by the family themselves), but now this was professionalised to a complete lunchroom for 180 people at the fourth floor. The other half of that floor featured toys and interior design items, also something that was already present at the Glaspaleis. Offices and the canteen were at the top floor.
The new sections, however, were located at the two lowest floors. The ground floor featured merchandise like stationery (and many pocket books), perfume and suitcases and a patisserie with its own bakery (all self-service, except for the bonbons, which had to be weighed). The souterrain housed a 2600 m² supermarket, with 7000 items on sale and an assortment ranging from Russian caviar to 70 types of cheese. Extra efficiency was achieved at the seven checkout counters by using two trolleys (and no conveyor belt). A cashier at one of would move the items from one trolley to the other and the customer could then take that to one of the 53 'packaging tables' (with assistance for those who desired it), thus reducing waiting time at the counter. The region is known for its high demand for quality meat. The butchery in the supermarket had a total counter length of 45 m, and a freezer with a capacity of 10.000 kg of meat. This and the other cooled storage rooms (eg for fruit and dairy products) were serviced by a monorail, suspended from the ceiling. This combined with automated weighing and packaging machines (with a capacity of 10,000 packages of meat per days and shrink-wrap for fruit) meant that the food did not need to be touched by human hands, which had its advantages for the hygiene. Nevertheless, there were constantly 7 butchers at work.

Self-service was becoming the standard in shops, which was also reflected in the new store, and not only in the setup of the supermarket. In the old shop (opposite the church), customers would tell the personnel what they wanted, who would then show them examples. In the Glaspaleis, all goods were out in the open, so customers could browse for themselves. In the new store, this was taken one step further. In keeping with the rising individualism, personnel was instructed to only assist people when asked. And Schunck even advertised the fact that at the curtain stand customers could "themselves" pull out the curtains to inspect them. Apparently, this was not obvious at the time. The new store was set up as a collection of specialty shops. As with the Glaspaleis, functionality was a major issue, so the layout of the floors was such that people would easily find what they were looking after. For example, in the supermarket the displays ('gondolas') had a maximum height of 1.60 m, so one could oversee the entire floor from any position. The collection of returnable bottles took place at the entrance of the supermarket. And the gangways (2 - 3 m), escalators and stairs were made extra wide. However, an attempt was made to let Schunck remain Schunck, a regional family business, focusing on quality and service.

A major difference with the Glaspaleis is that the outer wall is not made of glass. Apart from the top floors, there are even hardly any windows . The traditional natural light solution of having a large central hall, cutting through all the floors, with a glass roof, wasn't chosen either because that would take up too much (expensive) space. This means that almost all the light has to come from lamps. The outer wall (except for the two upper floors) is made of marble, interspaced with horizontal strips of lamps that are lit at night. This gives the building a very horizontal visual aspect. Here too, functionality was sought after, with no unnecessary decoration, but without giving the building the 'cold' appearance that many new buildings of the time had. As with the Glaspaleis, the floors are supported by colons, interspaced 8 m, with the outer colons 2.5 m from the outer wall. The roof of the top floor is a steel construction. The gross floor height is 4.15 m on all floors, with a net height of 3.3 m. The building is heated with city heating ('stadsverwarming'), using mostly heated air, with a capacity of 2.5 MW . Air conditioning in the souterrain has a capacity of 35,000 m³ per hour, meaning the air is refreshed (and cooled) six times per hour. For the other floors that is 4 times per hour, except in the lunchroom and kitchen, where it is eight respectively eighteen times per hour (and not cooled). In total, every hour 304,000 m³ of air is transported through 3.5 km of ducts. The main entrance has an 'air curtain' with a capacity of 63,000 m³ per hour.

The building borders on streets on three sides, with an entrances on each street and featuring 340 m² of shopping window space. These were used during the opening to display Roman artefacts, to illustrate the theme of the opening, the Romans, for whom Heerlen was a major settlement (Corriovallum) at an important crossroads. As a result, Heerlen was the major archeological site for Roman artefacts in the region. The idea for this theme came from drs van Hommerich, the City Archivist , an expert on the subject.

In his speech at the opening, the mayor announced that a street was to be named 'Peter Schunckstraat' In 1967 it was decided that was to be in the new suburb Bautscherveld-De Rukker (located halfway between Heerlen and nearby Kerkrade). The street sign was placed even before building had started.

In 1966, Schunck bought the adjoining Neerlandia cinema (which was rented out to the Hirschberg-concern) and in the same complex Lindor Lingerie and the Promenade Restaurant (both also rented out)

Problems

Leo Schunck had started making plans for still further expansion, even going national. But over the next eight years, several setbacks caused the business to shrink from 825 employees to 500, 400 of whom in Heerlen. The yield had dropped by 20% over the previous few years. Thanks to some restructuring, the company did not have problems with liquidity yet, but that was thought to be just a matter of time. In 1966 the mines started to be closed (and another four were yet to be closed), although that was already known for some time and the employees were re-educated for the new petrochemical activities of the former State Mines (DSM) and several government officials and private entrepreneurs showed great confidence in the future of the region. Still, sales went down while wages kept rising. In the early 1960s Heerlen, with its industrial development and modernisation, was nicknamed the 'Rotterdam of Limburg'. Purchasing power was higher than in the rest of the Netherlands and relatively low prices meant that many shoppers came here from Germany. But the closing of the mines meant that 40,000 miners retired and unemployment in the region was high at 3000. Many left the region for jobs elsewhere and those that "did" find a new job locally got lower wages, often 20% less. From 1965 to 1971, the number of wage-earners dropped by 18.4% (at a constant population). Also, when the Glaspaleis was rented out to ABP, the stock there had to be sold too quickly at too low prices. And when, for insurance reasons, a new fire extinguishing installation had to be installed in 1970, that cost not only 800,000 gulden, but also a loss in sales.

Still, until 1969 Schunck did well. Then came the introduction of VAT. Repricing a stock worth millions is a tricky business. But a bigger blow was the reduction of purchasing power by 20 to 25%. And the Germans stopped coming because Heerlen was no longer cheap. And then there were several smaller problems, like too much (expensive) service. leo Schunck commented that smaller departments should have been sold earlier.

urvival

In February 1972 the sudden announcement came that Schunck would be sold (with the possible exception of two shops), but Christine Schunck took a great personal financial risk to prevent this and managed to let Schunck survive. A committee consisting of S. Huyben (State Mines), L. Horbach (House of Commons and Chamber of Commerce Maastricht) and drs G. Krekelberg was installed to find a solution. They had talked to several companies that might take over the business. Bijenkorf, which operated in the same high class market, decided against it because operation of the business wouldn't be profitable enough. So attempts were made to rent the building out in sections. Kreymborg, Etos and Neckermann looked into it, but they all dropped out. One issue was who was to get ground floor. Also, Schunck wanted to guarantee the continuity of the exploitation, so the warehouse would remain for the public and continued employment would be guaranteed.

In the end only arch enemy V&D remained, who wanted to take over the entire business. Warehouse chain V&D had already secured a monopoly in the other main city in South Limburg, Maastricht and the same would have happened in Heerlen. Earlier, there were three main warehouses in Heerlen, the third one being grand Bazar, also at the Promenade, which they had already bought (V&D's old store, owned by Vascomij, was elsewhere, at the Raadhuisplein, and they needed to find a new destination for that building first).Since this take-over would have included the Lindor shop and the Neerlandia cinema, V&D would then have owned the entire North side of the Promenade. These would have been connected to the already existing V&D store, which would probably have made it the largest V&D store in the Netherlands.The take-over would probably have led to the sacking of hundreds of employees. V&D didn't want to sack any of their own employees, so many Schunck employees would lose their job, probably hundreds, although a redundancy scheme was being negotiated with DECOM . Several former employees of the Grand Bazaar, already sacked by V&D after that take-over, had been hired by Schunck. So these were now at risk of getting sacked by the same company twice in a short time. The 50-60 employees of the supermarket, one of the more profitable departments, might have been be relocated to a new, independent, supermarket under the V&D store at the Raadhuisplein, thanks to government subsidies and credit offered by several food companies. The NV Schunck would also lose money on the stored goods (worth millions), because these would not be part of the deal and would have to be sold out quickly. The organisation of independent shops wasn't too happy with the transaction either because of the reduced competition and variation and because the smaller shops in the vicinity of the former V&D store would suffer a loss of customers if no other big attractor would come in its place (plans were to make it government offices ).

But Christine Schunck managed to survive without such drastic measures. When gloom hung over the firm, the enthousiasm of the employees to keep on trying inspired the managers and then the committee came up with an alternative - sell just a few businesses, but not the main stores at the Promenade and in Geleen. Leo Schunck commented that losing the main store would have been too much of a blow to Heerlen. Also, selling the entire business would have disturbed the family relations too much. Everyone assumed that the buildings would be sold, but V&D wanted to buy all the shares and continue the business. In other words, under the same name. That would have meant that no-one called Schunck could ever set up even the smallest textile shop under their own name. This enraged Christine so much that she decided to go it alone. "If they can do it, then so can I". On 1 May 1972, Leo put down his function and on 14 July, Schunck became a BV (limited liability company) (based on a decision by the shareholders meeting on 24 April), with Christine as sole director, so she could keep total control. She bought all the shares and managed to keep the bank at bay by putting up her own money as collateral. With help of the Investment Bank and the government the business managed to continue. Christine did this at the age of 65, the retirement age for most people. Her survival scheme was to get rid of the departments that are not at the core of the business, starting with the supermarket, which was rented out to Etos.

Still, at the main store, 30 employees were fired, leaving a staff of 400.

In 1970 , Schunck had rented out the Glaspaleis to the ABP and in 1973 it was sold. Schunck may not have lost its main store, but it "did" lose its main landmark.

After the closing of the mines, the government (personified by minister of economic affairs Andriessen) was actively supporting new industries in the region and better infrastructure was being developed.

Centennial and end

Thus, Schunck could still celebrate its 100 year anniversary two years later. The regional economy had been decreasing for some time (according to the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, Coenen, because of a sick infrastructure and a recession) and all local businesses suffered. But why not the likes of V&D, C&A and Hema? Quite simply because it was a "regional" problem and they could compensate their losses through their stores elsewhere and simply ride out the bad times. Schunck, however, only had two big stores, both in the same region. In retrospect, many wondered if Schunck would not have better stuck to its plans to expand around the Glaspaleis, because the Promenade store was simply too big and meant Schunck had to move away from its mainstay merchandise, clothing. Related to this, when asked about the causes of the problems, Leo Schunck mentioned the three Wassen shops in Holland, which were bought for a stronger purchasing position. But that didn't work because these were in a different genre. From 1964, they kept on running at a loss and were finally sold to NV Vinke on 15 April 1969. That same year, Leo Schunck said in an interview that specialty shops, big or small, were the way of the future. Schunck had been just that, and had to return to that philosophy, which had also been advocated by Peter Schunck.

Three years later, in 1975, after an interior reorganisation, Schunck was healthy again, with Christine as director and her nephew drs L.F. Verleisdonk as deputy director (and P.M. Notermans as executive secretary), focusing on clothing and interior decoration/furniture . This despite a continued unemployment and low purchasing power, although the latter had improved thanks to increased social security (under the government of Den Uyl). Around 1970, after the closing of the mines, there was so much uncertainty that people didn't dare spend what money they had. When things settled down, that brought continuity and people started spending again. Competing with giants like V&D and C&A, Schunck's smaller size gave it the advantage of greater adaptability. And Schunck didn't try to copy the big ones because it would have lost in direct competition. Instead (as always) it focused on quality and service (also after sales) and used the approach of a collection of specialty shops (of which there had been a lack in Heerlen) under one roof. There were also plans for more variation, such as a bank, post office or travel agency. There was still room left to rent out to such bisinesses.
New problems were on the horizon, though, such as the proposal of the unions to close shops on Saturday afternoons (which would align them more with other businesses). A national research had shown that that would have cost warehouses 6.85% of their turnover. But near a border that would be worse. On Saturdays, Schunck made about 10 to 15% of its turnover thanks to Germans, because in Germany shopps were already closed on most Saturdays. Except for one Saturday per month, and on that Saturday customers from Heerlen would then go buy in Germany. And once acquainted with shopping there, they might return on other days too, thus reversing the situation. Also, a survey in the store showed that 20% of the customers preferred to shop on Saturdays.
And there had been experiments with making the shopping centre a pedestrian zone, which Schunck was a supporter of, but this was initially done in such a way that sales decreased. Verleisdonk said it was done exactly the wrong way around, closing the entire centre, only on Saturdays (of all days), without creating convenient parking facilities. Better would have been to do it bit by bit, starting with a small permanent pedestrian zone that is redecorated to look like one (with plants and such, not a 'normal street' that just happens to be closed off). Later, it was indeed done this way, with better parking facilities.

To ensure continuity, a strong partner was sought and found in Berden meubelen, a furniture store chain, which took over 6000 m² in 1989. Christine Dohmen-Schunck ran the business until the age of 80, when the problem of succession presented itself again and the only person available to take over was her nephew Louis Verleisdonk, (Christine remained active in the business behind the scenes, though). After him, no one in the family wanted to take over and the business was taken over by Berden, who bought all shares of the 'NV A. Schunck' in 1995, and continued under the name Berden-Schunck.

Thus, the "firma Schunck" ceased to exist 121 years after the opening of the first shop by Arnold Schunck. On the latest building at the Promenade, the name (which is still quite renowned in Heerlen) remained featured in large lettering on the front and back (see photo) and even on pillars inside. But the outside signs were also removed in 2006.

Aftermath

In 2001, boxes full of Schunck's archive material (12 m when put side by side), from Leo Schunck's personal collection, were handed over to Heerlen's City Archive, precisely on the day he died (at the age of 90). Some material dated back to the very first beginning, from 1873 (still in Hauset), a barely legible bill from a spinning mill for 96 Thaler. It also includes private letters, but Schunck being a family business, those contain information about the business as well. And in the photo albums, family photos and photos of the store are put side by side. The two were one.

On 2006/05/13, the top floor of the Glaspaleis was hired for a family reunion of the family Schunck, which included the two remaining children of Peter, Nolda Houben (1918) and Carla van der Made (1920) and most of his 47 still living grandchildren (he had a total of 50 who reached adulthood, all but one born in his lifetime). Plans are to hold such a reunion every two years.

pin-offs

Apart from the four consecutive shops in Heerlen and a branch in nearby Geleen, there were several other businesses more or less related to the main firm.

Pierre Schunck (1906-1993), the founder's grandson, didn't take over the business as was expected of him (although he "was" commissioner of the firm), but made his mark in other ways. He helped with the alphabetisation of Gypsy children in Heerlen and even studied to become a priest for a short while (which was presented to him as an alternative to taking over the business). Pierre also took over a laundry in Valkenburg, which had been founded by his mother's father, Pierre Cloot (1849-1933), in 1904 and of which he was made director in 1909. In the 1920s, he studied at a textile school. During World War II he started and led the Valkenburg resistance under the assumed name Paul Simons. After the war, his father gave him money to start up a clothes factory in Bonaire (a Dutch island in the Caribbean), named Schunck's Kledingindustrie Bonaire. But he did this with a former colleague from the resistance, who turned out to be too much of an adventurer and the business failed. It "did" start to help fight local unemployment, though, something for which he gained some popularity on the island. After that he returned to Heerlen, where he became managing director of SKIL (the clothes manufacturing business his father had set up), but that turned out not to be sufficiently profitable. His final business was a gents' clothing shop in nearby Maastricht, Schunck Jr. CV, at Muntstraat 41. When he retired, he went back to his family's roots by taking up weaving as a hobby, which had been the family's profession for centuries, specialising in Koptic Double weaving and visiting Otavalo Indians in Ecuador to learn about their weaving methods. He died on 2 February 1993. He had named his third son Arnold, who consequently has the same full name as the firm's founder, his greatgrandfather. This Arnold Schunck has started collecting information about the family online - see the external link below.

Verleisdonk opened a ladies wear shop in Geleen (Raadhuisstraat 23-25), which still sports a 'Schunck' sign in the original lettering.

Leo Schunck purchased the Markthal. From 19 September 1972 to 1 March 1981 he was director of Peter Schunck BV, named after his son Peter (who was consequently a namesake of his famous grandfather).

Peter's daughter Leonie (1911-1997) and her husband Arnold Käller (coincidentally also the same first name as the main firm's founder), started the furniture shop "Käller-Schunck" in Heerlen, which was later renamed "Hiero".

Another shop to carry the family name was opened in 2004 by Peter's greatgranddaughter Maaike Hendriks-Schunck, "Schunck Art & Bijoux" [http://www.schunckartenbijoux.nl] , primarily business-to-business, making paintings and jewellery for clothing shops (in line with the family tradition), although private individuals can also have paintings and jewellery custom made.

ee also

*Glaspaleis for a different (architectural) approach of the most famous Schunck building.
*Valkenburg resistance and Schunck's Kledingindustrie Bonaire for more on Pierre Schunck.

ources

* [http://www.aachen-webdesign.de/stamboom/glaspaleis.php?lang=en aachen-webdesign.de] (English, Dutch, German), just one of many pages on this site about the business and the family, some of which are translated into English (this page is about the Glaspaleis).
* [http://www.rijckheyt.nl/upload/100/pdf/inventarissen/Inventaris%20archief%20familie%20Schunck%20(1874%20-%201997).pdf Rijckheyt] (Dutch), the City archives of Heerlen.

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