The Dutch department store HEMA has a few characters that are associated with their brand.
- Jip and Janneke, a boy and girl from the book series of the same name (see also English Wikipedia). They have been associated with HEMA since 1993.
- Takkie and Siepie, the dog and cat of Jip and Janneke respectively. Takkie is Jip’s daschhond and Siepie is Janneke’s cat.
The Takkie and Siepie merchandise was all over during last year’s Christmas – it was almost impossible to get certain items and the homepage of hema.nl told people to check store inventory before going to the store to prevent disappointment. Part of the craze started because the two pets appeared on a HEMA holiday commercial (you don’t need audio to understand the story).
This year HEMA brought out the Takkie and Siepie merchandise out in full force, and I don’t blame them.
Here are some examples. First, Takkie as a rocking horse (funny that the stickers also mention “use at your own risk”).
Takkie stuffed animal with an adorable sweater:
Christmas tree with Siepie ornaments (at least it looks like Siepie):
Boy am I glad autocorrect finally gave up on correcting Siepie to Sepia…
Here is a Takkie play tent (on the left):
And more ornaments:
Oh, and when I walked by Bijenkorf, another department store in the city centre, they were playing “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…” on the outside speakers. So there you go. It’s almost Christmas. Sort of.
Life in the Hague 