Stock buyer of Blokker overstock and the Olympic Games
- (https://kooistra.com/2025/09/22/)
For something that costs one euro, we pay ten centsFrom Olympic soft toys to Blokker’s shipping containers
When Blokker goes bankrupt and 202 shipping containers full of toasters, blenders and drying racks are left over, one man in the Netherlands takes a lot like that in his stride: Eric Kooistra from Leeuwarden. He buys anything and everything.
_By: Jurriaan Nolles_ (Article in Algemeen Dagblad, Saturday 20 September 2025)
‘Paris 2024’ is printed on the plush soft toys. Eric Kooistra never even had to go there, yet he has a tangible souvenir of the Paris Olympic Games, because production had to be done before the summer of sport. Afterwards, retail chains are sometimes less interested, even though the toys for the sporting event have already been made and paid for. ‘Once the party is over, most of the value has been used up,’ says Leeuwarden wholesaler Eric Kooistra (46), who specialises in buying up lots of surplus stock and selling them on.
Because of that line of work, soft toys from the Paris Olympic Games ended up in Friesland. But Kooistra has already sold a large part of them through Facebook and Marktplaats. Companies such as Blokker, V&D and other retail chains are regularly left with surplus stock they want to get rid of. When Kooistra gets wind of deals like that, he jumps on them.
On a Thursday morning he walks into his warehouse in Leeuwarden. It is a huge hall with boxes, stacks and racking throughout, on a drab grey industrial estate in Leeuwarden, but filled with an enormous quantity of goods.
Whether it is a lot from Blokker, Action or a French sports retailer, Kooistra is there in no time. Within a few days he arranges the purchase and takes the whole lot in one go.
‘That is exactly how I work,’ says Kooistra. ‘I am always reachable, always switched on. While other traders are often hard to reach or take a long time, I make decisions quickly. That is why I often get the deal. With me, you know it will be sorted.’
Take the 202 shipping containers from Blokker, full of toasters, deep fryers, blenders and drying racks: Kooistra bought them in one deal. ‘Then you have to act straight away. Where are you going to sell those goods?’
The factory in China also had a problem once Blokker no longer existed but the goods had already been ordered. ‘What do you do then? You call Kooistra. We don’t order ten units, we order 20,000 straight away.’
‘The factory in China had a problem once Blokker no longer existed but the goods had already been ordered’
Eric Kooistra (46) was born on 25 October 1978 in Dokkum. He and his business partner Tjitse Lawerman (49) own Kooistra.com, a wholesaler in surplus stock. They previously bought bankruptcy stock from companies including V&D, Miss Etam and Kijkshop.
Eric Kooistra is married and has three children.
The deal, closed by his business partner Tjitse Lawerman within a few days, was really only the start of the work. Because where do you find the space to store 202 shipping containers of goods? And who is going to sell all of it?
‘Sometimes we just open two containers and see what happens. It is always a surprise what comes out. There can be anything inside: from sporting goods to toys and furniture. You never know exactly how it will go. But we see potential in everything,’ says Kooistra.
As a result, his warehouse is stacked full. ‘We do everything ourselves, with our team. That often means working late into the evening, unpacking pallets, dividing them up, selling them on. Sometimes a container goes in a day. But sometimes it takes weeks. That is part of it.’
Kooistra works with hundreds of resellers at home and abroad. From small traders selling on Marktplaats to large buyers who take whole pallets at once. ‘What others no longer want, we buy. And then it goes all over the world.’
‘So many people around the world are happy with what we throw away’
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