Anyone who walks into Summers immediately notices that the store is more than a retail outlet. It feels like a treasure trove and creative studio at the same time, with an ongoing collection that tells new stories every season. And where there is room for encounters - a community of lovers, friends now. You taste coffee, hear special music, smell the fragrance cabinet, see bouquets being created and vases and objects you want to take home: a welcoming place, a store that lives.
The studio works in an integrated fashion; events and styling depart from the Hofbogen. The whole place exudes choice, signature and attention, with materials collected with love and brought together with great sense of size and atmosphere. Michael puts it this way, "If you have beautiful flowers, it also promotes beauty in the world.
The conversation with Michael and René starts somewhat messy - phone calls, customers walking in, the city talking along - but gradually the noise shifts aside and a clear picture emerges of how Summers operates today: closer to themselves, agile in organization, sharp in choices, emphasizing signature, experience and quality.
'The inspiration is seasonal and narrative'
When did you start working with flowers? René: "Starting in 1993. I was working at a leading flower store in town. That one quit. So I thought okay, I'll just do it myself. Michael joined the company in 1996 but does not come from the flower business. 'I worked in travel as a tour guide. And since then it's actually all been the way it is now.'
What is your signature? René: 'I think signature is staying close to nature, and letting each flower keep its position. I don't like to cram things together. It's minimalist or a picking garden. Or a baroque bouquet. You can also choose two flowers that's beautiful too.' The question to the client is always specific: is it a gift or for yourself, how big is the vase, do you want long and airy or compact and round? Listening, questioning and translating is the basis for bouquets that carry emotion. Each bouquet is 'custom made.' Michael: "They are simply 'sympathy flowers.' It's about emotion, about being happy and feeling happy.'
What makes the store special? René: 'With 550m2 it really is a kind of warehouse. Actually you can't say; oh I haven't found anything. That is impossible. But it is also not a place to just look around: people come in for a reason.'
The current location was deliberately designed from scratch as a total experience: flower shop, objects, fragrances and service come together. Besides fresh flowers, you will also find silk flowers, special home accessories, objects, candles, care products, home perfume and vases you will never want to get rid of. "Everything is possible and fine - almost unreal - and always with a clear 's Summer signature.
A signature element is the "fragrance cabinet": a fanning wooden greenhouse that runs through the building like a scented route. The original idea - even entering the street and back into the store - was given the green light, but proved too costly to fully realize. The idea behind it, scent as a gateway to memory, does, even now, define the store.
'The standard work week is now really four days'
What kind of clients come here? 'It's mostly the higher end. But it's also mixed,' says René. Michael: 'People with a good job. Look if you come here on a Sunday morning and pay 180 euros, you're not on a minimum. The crowd is urban and diverse, regulars and new Rotterdam residents who find their way here.'
What is your vision? René: 'We try to make a certain interpretation for each person, but within your framework. Not in a Xenos atmosphere. If you want that, you don't come here.' He calls himself "A bit of a fashionista but in flowers. We work in collections and color schemes that change seasonally. Curating is essential - from flowers to vases, from light to fragrances - so that everything falls together into one story.
How do you keep it innovative and surprising? René: Every time we come up with special collections. This is from a ceramist here in Rotterdam; vases for which we choose our own colors. It's curating down to the smallest detail.' That curatorial eye extends beyond flowers; it extends to everything: bowls, light, objects. 'I'm basically a collector, like they do in museums. So the collection grows with the season and with the city, with its own color language and inspiration and always in combination with flowers.'
A vase by glass artist Bernard Heesen, lighting by Dirk van der Kooij. And together with glassblowers and ceramists they create their own pieces with a 's Zomers touch, sophisticated colors and inspiration. 'They are all unique items. With a kind of eternity value, the items prove themselves by still being very valuable in ten years, that's what we choose. As a customer, you step into our world and take a piece of it home with you.'
What do you draw inspiration from? The inspiration is seasonal and narrative. René cites the reopening of a historic pavilion in Het Park near the Euromast as an example. "The autumn theme will be 'gathering' and 'harvesting': 'Everywhere there should be rose hips, apples, and we're going to roast chestnuts so that it's really a very cozy gathering.' That narrative, somewhat messy approach - botanical, rich in materials and atmosphere - is meant to bring people together.
What is the interpretation of the Summers Studio? The studio is integrated into the whole and operates out of De Hofbogen. René: 'Integrated. No longer stand-alone.' Michael: 'Doing everything from such a beautiful building; maneuvering and working. That's when you are most successful financially.' Assignments range from restaurants and offices to weddings, conventions and showrooms. The studio is the extension of the shopping experience: the signature of 's Zomers, applied on location.
How important is sustainability to you? René: "Of course I think it's important for the girls to work with clean products. And I think the footprint is also important. We buy from an organic grower and pay attention to certification, but completely, that doesn't work for all flowers.'
'You step into our world as a customer, and take a piece of it home with you'
Would an organic-only flower store be possible? 'Organic cultivation brings an aesthetic challenge: Customers often expect 'pure quality,' especially at the higher end. Fully organic is not feasible for us as a retail model right now. But we do see a turnaround, the aim is honest and step by step, without dogma, with an eye for beauty as well as health.'
What are you doing online? Social media (about 20,000 followers) and the webshop (open 24/7) are growing structurally along with the store. René: 'Online sales are getting better and better; on some days online is even running faster than cash register sales. In the webshop we sell flowers, but also fragrances and easy-to-ship products. And social media strengthens the daily traffic in the store.'
How is personnel organization arranged? Personnel management has changed with the times. René: "It used to be that every employee worked five days by default, now the standard work week is really four days.
The team gets more autonomy and manages a lot among themselves; steering is light. Michael sometimes takes control himself to see "with his own eyes" that everything is under control. It is hard work at a high level - high quality and loving - with the flexibility to maneuver quickly.
What can we expect in the coming year? Michael: "Well, I want to have the cookie factory here," he says of the plan for sophisticated catering as part of the experience. Technology helps relieve staff stress such as a coffee machine with fresh beans and two types of milk. Hospitality around coffee and something tasty then stands - without the need for a large barista team. Outdoor presentation and "dotting the i's" are also on the agenda. René: "We really do want to do more online as well. In everything is the same motivation: the store as a lively house where you want to stay.
What does the future of the floral profession look like for you guys? Michael: 'I think in thinking about the future, we want to bring out the uniqueness and craft of what we do even more.' Less outsourcing, more self-direction and faster switching. The pleasure of being in the business with both feet is back. Sometimes a bit chaotic - that comes with the level and ambition - but always focused on the best ingredients and the most beautiful composition. 'There is so much individuality in 's Zomers that sometimes I almost lose myself in it.'
Michael Swier and René Jongeneel ran their store on Van Oldenbarneveltstraat for the first 25 years; since 2019, they have lived in De Hofbogen.
's Summers feels like an open studio: a place where you walk in for a bouquet, linger at the coffee table and leave with flowers, a fragrance or a vase. René curates like a fashionista and museum curator in one; together with glassblowers and ceramists he creates his own unique items with a 's Zomers touch
's Zomers Flowers - Botanical Warehouse
Boekhorststraat 48, Rotterdam
www.zomersbloemen.nl
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