We have been serving customers with heart and soul since 1910. We welcome them as valued guests to our shops and to one of our two webshops. In all those years, we have let many connoisseurs experience what a good fit and the best quality means. A 'gourmet' is someone who appreciates the taste or style of a subject with great precision. Someone like our guests. Someone like us.
Van den Assem | Retailer in shoes since 1910
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Van den Assem family
You don't become a shoe expert overnight. It takes a great deal of knowledge and experience. Knowledge and experience that we have accumulated since our establishment and passed on to subsequent generations. The love of quality shoes and craftsmanship has flowed through our veins for generations. Read the story of (the family) Van den Assem below.
Lambertus van den Assem
1910 - first generation
About Lambertus van den Assem: 'My father had the ability to look through a shoe like an x-ray. At a glance, he could see how the shoe was made, whether the material was of high quality and whether the lining was tight.
Together with his brother, he opened a shoe shop in the Oostmolenstraat in Rotterdam in 1910. They got along fine, but there was one big difference: my uncle was more interested in the cheaper segment, while my father wanted to focus on shoes 'in the better genre'. In the end, they both went their separate ways.
- Cees van den Assem
Cees van den Assem
1956 - second generation
When Cees was in his mid-twenties, he, his sister Leny and brother Ton took over their parents' business. In the meantime, the business had become established on the Nieuwe Binnenweg. After putting more than 42 years of passion and love into his (now) two shops, he talked to Berry about the takeover.
About Cees van den Assem: 'We were quite scared that dad was going to stop. We knew him mainly from the business, he was always at work. Except on Sundays, then it was ours.
- Leo van den Assem
When you are as passionate as our father is, letting go is very difficult, but dad did it to give our generation a chance. Of course we have a lot of contact about the company. If I need advice or want to talk something over, I call him.
- Berry van den Assem
Berry van den Assem
1998 - third generation
At home, we talked about almost nothing else, we breathed shoes: I didn't want anything else.
- Berry van den Assem
About Berry van den Assem: 'He returned from Italy with a head full of ideas. Ideas that would radically change the nature of our somewhat solid collection. I realised that this change was necessary, even though I have problems with some trends.
- Cees van den Assem
Leo van den Assem
It gives us great satisfaction to see that our shoes make people happy'.
- Leo van den Assem
About Leo van den Assem: 'I had all sorts of ideas about opening other businesses, starting with a men's shoe shop. We quickly agreed: Leo would do the men's business, I would do the ladies'.
- Berry van den Assem
Berry's oldest son Joep also has the shoe gene and, as a little boy he loved helping out in the stores. By now he is completely at home in the world of sales and goes along with his father on purchases.
Joep van den Assem
? - fourth generation
'I would very much like to continue the family business later on. Fortunately, my father and uncle will be around for a while, so I can still learn a lot from them. I'm already doing that every day and I'm looking forward to what's to come.'
- Joep van den Assem
About Joep van den Assem: 'He inherited his nose for trends from his father, who is just like him. Of course, Joep has only just started, but you can tell by looking at him that he's got what it takes!'
- Leo van den Assem