Fish straight from the producer. With a presentation that appeals to all the senses.

Dries van den Berg has been smoking and selling eels for more than 40 years: to start with at a market stall, later in his own fish shop. Quality is decisive and a new building at Harderwijk harbour, a traditional eel fishing centre on Lake Veluwe, provides an appropriate setting for the flourishing business. The spacious new building with a pointed saddle roof not only houses the eel smokehouse, but also a fish shop with a restaurant and an eel museum. The store concept combines fixtures such as model fronts of fisherman's huts, counters in the style of fishing boats and countless maritime decorative objects with modern technology to create a real customer experience.

A long eel-smoking tradition

The aim was to convey the authentic atmosphere of buying straight from the producer and to emphasise the company's traditional maritime roots. The result is a thoroughly well-rounded experience. In close cooperation with the store designers from Remmerswaal Retail & Design, BÄRO developed a lighting concept that supports the multisensory character and room layout and perfectly presents the product range with light colours fine-tuned to the products. The new shop consists of two crossed wooden structures with the chimneys of the smoking oven visible from afar as a landmark.

Boat building meets retail design

The interior offers an abundance of impressions: refrigerated counters shaped like boats present the products, herring barrels hang overhead on crane hooks, fishing nets and other decorative objects from the world of fishing create an authentic atmosphere. The eel museum in the attic features a colourful front to the salesroom modelled on fishing huts from the past. The wide range of BÄRO Ontero spotlights add clear highlights to this opulence, directing the gaze and creating hierarchies. In the restaurant area decorative luminaires emphasise the maritime look. This high-contrast lighting concept is continued in the eel museum. Intara RD recessed luminaires are used in areas with suspended ceilings. The lighting in the room has a pleasantly warm and natural character with the light colour 3000 K. Directly above the fish counters BÄRO luminaires with the special light colour Fish&Seafood perfectly emphasise the freshness of the products.

It is reported that Princess Beatrix was also extremely impressed when she awarded the Dutch Order of Merit to founder Dries van den Berg on the occasion of the opening of the new premises.