Who am I and how it all started;
I am Saskia Kroon - van der Kamp, owner of Kalenderwinkel.nl now 39 years young and born in Zuidhorn (near Groningen), living together with my partner Robin, son Jurre & daughter Bente, 3 cats and our Welsh Corgi.
In short
In 2003 I started selling dog stickers on marketplaces. There was a lot of interest in this, which resulted in 2004 in me launching the website dierenartikel.nl.
In the following years, this expanded into an online shop with more than 10,000 pet gift items. During this period, I also took a veterinary assistant course, received my diploma for this in 2006 and immediately started work as a para-veterinarian. After this, I opened Kalenderwebwinkel.nl, Dierenkalenders.nl & Shirtwebwinkel.nl. From 2015, business was going so well that I chose to throw myself fully into the webshops and quit my employer. From 2018, I merged these into 2; calendarstore.co.uk and Shopcalenders.com
Future
My future dream for our webshops is to be able to offer the biggest, best and most unique range with all the personalised services you have come to expect from us. I will therefore continue to actively search worldwide for new, unique products to expand our webshops.
2024
We celebrate our 20th anniversary this year!
Since 2024, I have taken over an existing webshop; The Lang Store.
Also, in addition to the help of my dear parents and partner, I have employed an employee, Natasja, as of 1 May.
Natasja is 35 years young and she lives with her Partner Peter and her daughter Jasmine.
After a great working career within Tourism and Building Materials, I asked her to support me with calendarstore.co.uk in early 2024.
With full enthusiasm, I hope, together with Natasja, to make sure that Kalenderwinkel.nl becomes an even bigger success and gets more name recognition.
You can therefore come across us more often on the Socials.
I am also proud to announce that I am the new sponsor of a women's indoor football team starting from the new football season. I also sponsor Peter with his running activities. So you can see us everywhere. I look forward to supporting these sporting initiatives and contributing to their success.
2023
The year 2023 has arrived and it is time for an internal renovation! The puzzles all need to move upstairs to the mezzanine, so the calendars and diaries will be downstairs again. This is a lot safer, as in the past two years we have had to lift a lot of bins and boxes down the stairs. We are not standing still with the shop either. We recently added two more shops: Shopcalendars.com and Hondenkalenders.nl. There is relatively high demand from outside the Netherlands and we hope to make many more people happy with our calendars via Shopcalendars.
2022
2022 finally saw a bit of air to catch our breath from actually two very weird years. The move and Corona have taken quite a toll on all of us. We are lucky that there have been no serious illnesses or deaths in either of our families. 2022 was a relatively quiet year, the crowds stabilised again.
2021
Puzzles were flying around our ears and the first lockdown was a fact! Orders were going like crazy and the kids were home too! So hup, into the office too. Fortunately, we had space here and there was an equipped playroom, but it wasn't ideal. In this year, we also took over a webshop from a competitor who wanted to quit. In addition to Corona, this also generated additional orders.
In the first quarter of 2021, the train still thundered on, but our space was already too small again due to the huge puzzle growth. So an extra floor had to be added to our premises to provide a place for the calendars and diaries. So to work: sorting out and arranging everything. In the summer, we had a mezzanine floor with some 140 m² of extra storage space. Fortunately, by the end of 2021, Corona was back in business.
2020
It really had to happen: we were busy looking for a house with room to grow with our webshop. That was a tough job! We couldn't find anything suitable and affordable in Amersfoort, Hoogland, Ede and towards Arnhem. Besides, Corona knocked everyone over! Viewing houses didn't make it any easier either. We eventually bought a house in Zeewolde in the middle of Corona's start-up and were able to rent a large shed from an acquaintance just under 10 minutes' cycling distance.
The buzz in 2020 and the first half of 2021 was huge!
2019
Let's start 2019 in February with the birth of our daughter Bente! A happy little girl whose mostly pink clothes put a smile on everyone's face. So yes, then we had two kids! Hands full, and with the shop and space, we became increasingly limited in the current situation. Another house with business space had to be sought, plans for the coming year.
2018
Having just recovered a little bit from all the hustle and bustle in the last three months of 2017, we got the request and opportunity to take over the webshop Calendarwinkel.com from Comello, alongside our current shop Qwebwinkel.co.uk, in early February.
Comello is one of our suppliers that we have had very good contact with for years. Talks followed and finally, at the beginning of April, we tied the knot: we are doing it and are embarking on a new adventure! There was still some work to be done, but we succeeded. On 1 May, the revamped Kalenderwinkel site went live.
For the new year 2019, we have a lot of new calendar and calendar titles planned. We are still busy adding all the new items, but expect to go over 2,000 different titles this year.
Given Jurre's arrival in 2016, we can no longer be found at fairs in the Amersfoort region. However, like all years, we will be present again in December at the Winter Fair in Garderen, entirely in Dickens-style.
2017
Meanwhile, we are already busy preparing to sell 2018 calendars. Every year, it is a treat for me to see which calendars are coming up for the new year. With great enthusiasm, we pick out the most beautiful and fun ones for our customers!
With a lot of love, care and passion, every order is packed for you. Jurre even got his own taper roller after he was born.
2016
In January 2016, I turned out to be expecting our first son Jurre. As a result, we decided to make things a little easier going forward by merging the four shops into two: Kalenderwebwinkel.nl and Qwebwinkel.nl. As a result, we offer fewer products, can keep more stock and deliver much faster.
On 10 October our son Jurre was born, right in the middle of the busiest time of the year! With helpers, it was a bit of a push through the last few months of 2016 with the hustle and bustle of the shop, a trade show and a baby.
2015
After my resignation from the pet practice and saying goodbye to all the lovely customers and pets in April, I was able to focus entirely on the webshops from May 2015. The result was more orders, faster shipments and even happier customers, and that's what we do it for!
2004-2014
In the years after 2004, we opened three more webshops: Kalenderwebwinkel.nl, Dierenkalenders.nl and Shirtwebwinkel.nl. It became busier and busier, but therefore also increasingly difficult to combine the shops with the work in the veterinary practice, to which I devoted myself passionately for many years. This made me decide, after a good discussion with our accountant, to opt completely for the shops.
2003
In 2003, I came into contact with several suppliers at the Dibevo Days (trade fair for pet shops). At that time, I had no experience with selling via the Internet, but I started selling dog stickers via Marktplaats. There was a lot of interest in this. In 2004, the website dierenartikel.nl went live and over the following years it expanded into a webshop with more than 10,000 animal gift items. During this period, I took a paraveterinary training (veterinary assistant) and graduated in 2006. Immediately afterwards, I started working as a paraveterinarian.
Warm regards,
Saskia, Robin, Natasja
And don't forget my parents Fred & Marga, our packers!
