One-time window cleaner buys 135,000 sq ft warehouse that was on his former round
A HULL businessman who started out cleaning windows at BAE Systems at Brough has bought a 135,000 sq ft warehouse on the site of his former round.
Charlie Kraanen, who owns Dutch Imports and Daughters, is moving his business to the old Operations Hanger at Brough, now part of the 79-acre Humber Enterprise Park.
Mr Kraanen, together with his 15 staff, will be relocating his wholesale garden furniture and ornaments company to Brough from its present headquarters in Wiltshire Road, Hull.
“It is a dream come true, coming back to where I started out in my working life,” said Mr Kraanen. “But I haven’t done this out of sentiment.
“This new warehouse is almost five times the size as our present warehouse. It took two years to find, but we are now finally able to increase our stock levels, allowing us to offer our customers a better and wider choice of new and exciting products.”
Mr Kraanen bought the new warehouse for an undisclosed seven-figure sum. He originally came to Humberside from Holland in the late 1970s and fell in love with Karen, now his wife. After a number of temporary jobs, including cleaning the windows at BAE, he and Karen set up Dutch Imports 25 years ago.
He added: “These are exciting times for our company. As garden furniture and ornaments wholesalers, our markets in the UK, Europe and the US are expanding and flourishing as the global economy recovers. We badly needed this extra space and we are lucky indeed to have found it in such splendid surroundings which just happen also to have some special memories for me.”
Humber Enterprise Park was recently launched by LC Industrial, a tie-up between Lumina Real Estate Capital and Leeds-based business space specialist Citivale. The park includes 1.3m sq ft of office and industrial space, 20 acres of development land and it benefits from Enterprise Zone and Assisted Area Status which offers significant incentives to attract new occupiers.
James Appleton-Metcalfe, managing director of Citivale, said: “It gives us immense pleasure to welcome Charlie and his company Dutch Imports and Daughters to Brough. It is a romantic story, given that Charlie used to clean the windows at BAE as a 20-year-old, and it is a testament to what he has achieved since, that he has returned as the proud owner of his own warehouse.”
