This is Jack Peters, the man who has to breathe new life into Blokker

Indeed, Palmer bought the Blokker brand name from the bankrupt estate in December, with the intention of rebuilding the retail chain. Palmer is the nephew of the late Jaap Blokker, and previously led Blokker Holding for four years. Now he is going to try again, but not alone. RTL Z recently reported that Palmer joined forces with a number of Blokker veterans. His right-hand man is Jack Peters , who was the chain's general manager between 2009 and 2015.

Not everyone will know him, but Peters has an impressive track record. Born in Brabant, he studied law in Tilburg in the eighties and worked for the German supermarket group Aldi in the nineties. There, he worked his way up to general manager of Aldi Nederland within five years, which had over 300 discount supermarkets at the end of the nineties. Shortly after the turn of the century, Peters started working for wholesaler Makro Nederland, where he became the top boss in 2003.

In the fall of 2009, Peters was recruited by Jaap Blokker to become the general manager of the chain of household stores. The pater familias of the retail group was already seriously ill and entrusted Peters with his largest chain of stores, and thus a significant part of his estate.

In the same year that Peters became director of Blokker, Roland Palmer, ten years younger, began his training period, with the intention of taking over from his uncle Jaap. When Palmer did indeed become CEO of Blokker Holding in 2011, the two men began to work closely together. According to the book Blokker. Hoe het imperium de familie uitglit (Blokker. How the empire slips away from the family), the two 'got along well'.

This later becomes apparent again, after both men were fired from Blokker in 2015 as a result of internal tensions and disappointing results. Palmer starts working as Benelux director of the Chinese internet store Alibaba a year later. Soon after, he brings in his buddy Peters as director of business development. At the time, Palmer praised 'Jack's enormous experience in management and sales', his 'retail network' and his 'high energy, enormous drive and extensive knowledge of the retail landscape'.

When Peters took over the management of Blokker in 2009, the situation at the household chain was incomparable to that of the past years. Blokker was still a powerhouse at that time. Parent company Blokker Holding made a healthy profit of 156 million euros in 2008. At its peak in 2011, subsidiary Blokker alone had no fewer than 839 stores in the Benelux and Suriname.

No, not really. Behind the scenes, there was already serious overdue maintenance. At the end of 2011, Peters presented plans to revitalize Blokker. He wanted to freshen up the shabby stores and focus heavily on a webshop. In executing the plans, Peters showed himself to be a committed CEO, but also a hothead. "Peters could bounce with enthusiasm and explode with anger," according to the aforementioned Blokker book.

Partly due to internal opposition, Peters' plans for Blokker did not get off the ground quickly enough at the time. It was not until 2014 that he was actually able to present his first revamped store. But by then, a completely different wind had started blowing at the retail group. That same year, the parent company suffered its first loss in history. Early 2015, Peters had to announce his first round of layoffs, with 440 employees losing their jobs. In the summer of that year, Palmer was the first to be let go , followed shortly by Peters. Their first rescue plan for Blokker had failed.

The veteran team of which Peters is a member does not want to explain the new plans for Blokker. Palmer does not answer his phone, financial man Fred Letschert says that 'the new Blokker' chooses its own moment for this, and Peters does not respond to a request sent via Linkedin. When he took office as Blokker boss in 2009, it also became clear that Peters had little time for the media. "My policy is that I do not give interviews ," he told the FD at the time.

It is clear that Peters and his team will have to start practically from scratch. In December, they only took over the brand name from the bankrupt estate, and none of the 350 Blokker stores. On Thursday, RTL Z reported that the men want to open ' thirty to forty' new stores . In addition, they want to collaborate with the 40 existing franchise locations that were not affected by the bankruptcy. If that works, there would be around 80 Blokker stores again.

Back then, Peters was in charge of a worn-out and leaking oil tanker, with multiple captains on the bridge. Now he can start fresh and anew with a brand new, agile speedboat. The new Blokker still has a well-known brand name, much lower costs and the freedom to choose store locations. Moreover, after their previous dismissal, Peters and Palmer will be extremely driven to prove themselves at Blokker.

On the other hand, Blokker's brand name has been badly damaged by all the malaise of the past few years. Also, the household chain is no longer a shadow of its former self in terms of purchasing power and market position, with a maximum of 80 instead of over 800 stores. So it's going to be exciting.