Our mission
Bangkok / Force One is a household name on the Spui. In 1981, we squatted at number 213 cafe, which had been empty for many years. Completely impoverished and partly dilapidated, we renovated everything as best as possible—also the upstairs house. Many savings went into it.
We transferred the old café into a shop for second-hand and imported goods. It soon became apparent that the influx of imports of sports goods from Thailand and Taiwan was doing very well. The second-hand goods increasingly made way for the new products. A lot came from Bangkok. Our store was given this name at the beginning. Thailand is our second home.
Taiwan came in a solid second place as almost all goods related to traditional martial arts came from there. From 1985 onwards, we visited it regularly because business was going well.
In 1989, we got into trouble with our municipality because the building plans had planned a theater on the site of our buildings. We moved to Spui 202. Then, we went to Spui 217 and added 279 until the municipality closed the city, making 50% of the city inaccessible.
In 2011, Fred Bierlee, who was the face of the store for many years, passed away and we moved to Spui 214e— our current location.
In the 90s, the internet forced us to change the name to Force One as we opened a website. As one of the first internet shops, we moved with time and product ranges. Progress is still one of our reasons for growth. We love healthy, aging, and living in good physical and mental shape. We aim to share our knowledge, experience, and abilities with you.