“When he offered to help, I thought: “what a nice guy,” Periandros recalled. “Later, when we started talking, he said he was looking to get into business, so we discussed a partnership. We even had a common bond since my wife, Ank, is Dutch.”
Originally, when Steven first came to Crete from Rotterdam, where he owned a rather large trucking firm, he wasn’t thinking of the food business.
“My first idea was to rent out Harley motorcycles,” Steven said. “Since I’ve been riding Harleys for many years, this was something I knew quite a bit about. But, I soon realized it just wouldn’t work here.”
The first year as a joint venture with the Supermarket Sissi, which featured many typical tourist products like Cretan honeys and spices, wasn’t overly successful.
“It worked okay, but the bottom line really wasn’t enough for two households, after all the bills were paid, IKA, and all,” Steven said. “So, we agreed to make some changes, and last year we added a few Dutch products, which we bought from local wholesalers, to test the market.”
Almost immediately, Steven and Periandros realized that they were headed in the right direction, and they began to import their own products from Holland.
“There are many Dutch families living on Crete, more than 600 people,” Steven said. “Once the word went out, like with the ad in The Khronicles, from which we got many customers, business became steady. Now, we bring in a new shipment from the Netherlands every two or three weeks, and each time we add new products…this next shipment will have more than 40 additional items. At the moment, we stock well over 400 Dutch and Indonesian products, including frozen, fresh chilled, canned and packaged, all from top manufacturers.”
Apparently, what makes Supermarket Sissi such a unique enterprise is that each partner has his own expertise. While Steven concentrates on the Dutch products, Periandros deals with the local market.
“Of course, we still have the local Cretan honeys, spices, teas etc., and a good selection of the basic supermarket products,” Periandros said. “Also fresh fruits and vegetables are an important part of the retail food business, and I make sure we have the freshest available, by checking with the local farms and produce markets almost everyday.”
The success of the new Supermarket Sissi led to another expansion – and move -- just several months ago.
“Now there were two people, a Greek and a Dutchman, sweating and grunting and moving crates, but nobody offered to help,” Periandros said with a smile.
“Just as well,” added Steven. “Business is good, but not enough for a third partner!”
Bron: Khronicles
