Bruna (company)

Bruna is a Dutch bookseller. In addition to books it sells newspapers, magazines, stationery, computer software, and cards.

Bruna logo
Former headquarters in Houten

Bruna was founded in 1868.[1] Its head office was in Houten until spring 2019, when as a cost-cutting measure it relocated to Amsterdam.[2] The company was led by Henk Bruna from 1935 to 1982.[3] As of November 2019, it operated approximately 273 shops in the Netherlands,[4] the best developed bookshop network in the country.[2]

In early 2017, the book chain was in serious financial trouble; its main stockholders came to the rescue in February,[5][6] and in December 2017 the company was taken over by the publisher Veen Bosch & Keuning Uitgeversgroep (VBK).[7] In late 2019, the company was acquired by Audax, the parent company of competing bookseller Amsterdamsche Kiosk Onderneming.[4][1]

The company developed a digital subscription service, Bliyoo,[7] and has sought to integrate online and brick and mortar services as well as diversifying to offer related merchandise.[2] Following its acquisition by VBK, it became part of Shared Stories Group, together with the publisher and VBK's online service, Bookchoice.[8]

References
  1. (in Dutch) "Bruna overgenomen door moederbedrijf van concurrent AKO", De Volkskrant, 19 November 2019.
  2. (in Dutch) Peet Vogels, "Bruna wil 100 nieuwe winkels, 'we zijn geen grijze muis meer'", Algemeen Dagblad, 18 April 2019.
  3. (in Dutch) "Henk Bruna, oprichter Bruna-winkels, overleden", Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 26 February 2008, archived from the original on 6 June 2008.
  4. (in Dutch) Floor Bouma, "Bruna en AKO-moederbedrijf Audax gaan samen verder", NRC Handelsblad, 18 November 2019.
  5. (in Dutch) "Aandeelhouders PostNL en ING schieten Bruna te hulp", NU.nl, 14 February 2017.
  6. (in Dutch) Alexander Leeuw, "Nu ook Bruna in zwaar weer", Nederlands Dagblad, 16 February 2017 (subscription required).
  7. (in Dutch) Hanneke Chin-A-Fo and Toef Jaeger, "Winkelketen Bruna overgenomen door uitgeefconcern VBK", NRC Handelsblad, 6 December 2017 (subscription required).
  8. (in Dutch) "De organisatie", Bruna, retrieved 30 January 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.