Oilily's having a sale! Of itself. The Dutch children's clothing chain has apparently not sold enough Rosa Pomar knockoff bunnies to cover its nut, because bankruptcy administrators in Amsterdam Monday ordered the company to be sold. Which is funny [and, you know, not] because it was just sold a few weeks ago to Lea Ward, the wife of the guy who'd bought it for ABN Amro in 2003. The timing makes you wonder if ABN Amro heard a ticking sound and rushed to get Oilily out of their portfolio.
The Telegraaf reports that there are "15-20 interesteds," which will be narrowed down to "one to three" finalists, and that a deal will be signed by April 30th because, in the words of bankruptcy trustee Marc Molhuysen, "We want it out so that the Queen's staff the day after a party to celebrate." Seriously.
As it happens, I've been in Amsterdam on Queen's Day, and it is truly not to be missed. The entire population puts giant, orange, balloon crowns on their heads, floods every street and canal, and gets completely drunk off their asses. And then at like seven o'clock, they all disappear. By the time you finish dinner and walk back to your hotel, the streets have been swept clean.
I'm sure there's an important lesson in there somewhere for Anglo-American capitalists on how to run a global economic collapse. Kind of makes me wish the Dutch had never given up Nieuw Amsterdam.
Oilily wants sold before April 30 [original dutch: telegraaf.nl, via dt dutch correspondent jan of loopfietswinkel]
I lived in Amsterdam for a year. The day after the Queens Birthday I woke up with no money, very sketchy memories and jugging clubs.