From the late 18th century, Brenninkmeijers settled in Sneek, where Herman and his son Andreas founded a company as seasonal linen peddlers.[page:31] Legal restrictions pushed them to settle, and around 1835 relatives Clemens and August from Mettingen joined them, laying the groundwork for a more permanent retail operation.[page:31]

In 1841, Clemens and August formally founded C&A and began stocking goods in a warehouse, eliminating the need to travel with packs on their backs.[page:31] Their first shop opened in Sneek in 1860, selling linen and cotton fabrics, bedding and complete wedding outfits, and by 1881 and the 1890s they had expanded to Leeuwarden and Amsterdam.[page:31] By 1897 they stopped peddling entirely and, guided by a family rulebook called “Unitas,” ensured that sons and daughters entered leadership roles early so that control remained strictly within the family.[page:31]

Bernard Joseph Brenninkmeijer, the youngest son of Clemens, is widely regarded as the father of the modern C&A formula.[page:31] In Amsterdam in 1906 he repositioned the company by pioneering discounting and fixed prices, replacing the traditional 50% “keystone” margin with margins of 25% or less while betting on higher volumes to boost profits.[page:31]

By 1910 C&A had ten stores in the Netherlands, and in 1911 it opened its first German store in Berlin; in 1922 the chain arrived on London’s Oxford Street.[page:31] During the Second World War, C&A benefited from expropriated Jewish real estate and the use of Ostarbeiter forced labour, then profited from the post‑war economic boom, expanding into the United States in 1948 and into Belgium, Switzerland, France, Spain and Japan in the following decades.[page:31]

In the 21st century C&A is an apparel company headquartered in Vilvoorde and Düsseldorf, operating around 1,575 stores in 18 European countries as of 2017.[page:31] These operations are connected through the Cofra group based in Zug, Switzerland, a well-known tax haven, which allows the family to coordinate fashion, real estate, private equity and financial services businesses under one umbrella.[page:31]

Beyond C&A, the family’s holdings include real estate group Redevco, private equity firm Bregal Investments and financial entities such as Banco Ibi C&A, together employing more than 35,000 people worldwide.[page:31] Public estimates suggest fashion retail alone is worth over 10 billion euros, Redevco about 7 billion and private equity around 8 billion, with the value of banking activities undisclosed.[page:31]

C&A’s global footprint has been fluid. After opening in the U.S. in 1948 and expanding through Western Europe and Japan, the company moved into Portugal and Mexico in the 1990s and later into Eastern Europe and China, while launching C&A‑Online in Germany in 2008.[page:31] At the same time, it exited less profitable markets, closing all UK and Danish stores in 2000 and later selling its Mexican and Chinese operations to local investors.[page:31]

Through the American Retail Group and later the Comark group in Canada, the family also owned chains such as Eastern Mountain Sports, Steinbach, Ohrbach’s, Maurices, Miller’s Outpost, Bretton’s department stores, Clark Shoes and Collacut luggage stores, but these were sold off by 2005.[page:31] The pattern is consistent: enter consumer markets at scale, ride growth and then redeploy capital when the strategic logic shifts.[page:31]

In 2015, Bregal Partners — one of Cofra’s investment arms — moved into the U.S. fishing industry.[page:31] The firm acquired stakes in Seattle‑based American Seafoods and in Blue Harvest Fisheries in New Bedford, Massachusetts, making the Brenninkmeijer empire one of the largest players in New England’s groundfish sector.[page:31]

Blue Harvest Fisheries became the single largest holder of groundfish permits in New England, meaning a European retail dynasty effectively controlled a major share of the region’s access rights to wild fish stocks.[page:31] Investigations such as ProPublica’s “How Foreign Private Equity Hooked New England’s Fishing Industry” used the Brenninkmeijers as a prime example of quiet foreign capital reshaping local resource economies.[page:31]

The Brenninkmeijers are known for their quiet but extensive Catholic philanthropy. Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad has reported that the family financed the creation of the Christian Democratic Appeal party and sponsored the Pope’s 1985 visit to the Netherlands, while overall donations to the Catholic Church exceed a billion euros.[page:31] Since 1995, philanthropic activity has been centrally managed via Porticus and Benevolentia.[page:31]

The family gives around 10% of profits through at least 58 foundations worldwide, and in 2009 they created the Draiflessen Collection in Mettingen as a museum and research centre on family and business history.[page:31] In November 2024, Charlotte Brenninkmeijer became CEO of Porticus, reflecting a new generation stepping into the role of managing faith‑framed capital flows.[page:31] Anthos Fund & Asset Management, another vehicle, now manages money for external clients such as pension funds and religious institutions, emphasising responsible and impact investing.[page:31]

Until the mid‑1990s, only male direct descendants of founders Clemens and August could hold shares, and family ownership of the group was absolute.[page:31] That insularity has begun to shift: in April 2025 the Brenninkmeijers announced they would open roughly €35 billion of assets to external investors for the first time, aiming to expand the portfolio over the next decade with the help of outside professionals.[page:31]

Anthos has broadened its services to handle capital for third‑party clients, and Cofra is positioning itself as a diversified, impact‑oriented investor rather than just a secretive retail fortune.[page:31] Still, the family retains full control of Cofra, meaning external capital will flow into an architecture whose fundamental governance remains dynastic and Catholic.[page:31]

The Brenninkmeijer clan consists of about 12 branches and an estimated 500 members.[page:31] In 2012, Albert Brenninkmeijer married Princess Carolina of Bourbon‑Parma, a cousin of Dutch king Willem‑Alexander, forging a direct link between the family and European royalty.[page:31]

Mother Theresa Brenninkmeyer served as prioress and later abbess at Sostrup Castle convent in Denmark from 1988 to 2011, while relatives Stephan and Philippe Brenninkmeijer have careers in film production and acting.[page:31] In 2011, Jean‑Louis Brenninkmeijer founded Little Canada, a miniature model of Canada in Toronto, adding an entertainment and storytelling dimension to the family’s legacy.[page:31]