Catom continues to expand

‘Best Shell petrol station in the world’ by Fokko Meijer in Doetinchem continues in OK network after 46 years

Published on 2025-08-12 at 12:06

ooit Shell Fokko Meijer en nu verder als OK — Sinds 1979 bekend als Shell Fokko Meijer, gaat het tankstation aan de Havenstraat in Doetinchem sinds deze week verder als nieuwe OK.

OK has almost completed the conversion of its petrol station on Havenstraat in Doetinchem. Not everything is ready yet: the canopy above the refuelling area is not yet the final version and the shop also still needs to be updated to formula OK Café. Known nationally as ‘Shell Fokko Meijer’, the service station was considered one of the most innovative in the Netherlands, topping it off by winning the title of ‘Best Shell in the World’ in 2010. After 46 years, Shell Fokko Meijer will now continue as OK Tankstation Doetinchem.

Catom continues to rapidly expand its filling station network in the Netherlands. After converting the former Shell filling station in Breukelen-Dorp to OK at the beginning of August, it is now the turn of the former Shell Fokko Meijer on Havenstraat in Doetinchem. The conversion operation is in full swing. For now, the canopy still shows the temporary, small version of OK. If permission is granted, the canopy will be replaced by a new, larger version in the OK house style after the construction period. Then Fokko Meijer’s former deli by Shell will also be revamped into a staffed OK Café, the shop formula developed in-house by OK.

46 years of Shell

With the takeover by Catom, what was once Shell Fokko Meijer at the Havenstraat location comes to an end after 46 years. Meijer sr. started a filling station in Doetinchem much earlier, in 1963 on the Gaswal. From 1979, the service station on Havenstraat became the main address for filling up with Shell fuels. Over the years, the filling station constantly developed through the application of new techniques or expansion. In 2018, a new shop was realised and the station was greatly expanded with a deli by Shell and Starbucks To Go. Shell Fokko Meijer’s highlight was winning the title of ‘Best Shell in the World’ in Rome in 2010. At the time, Fokko Meijer Sr. called this ‘the crowning glory of years of hard work’.

Gold dealer

The transformation of the petrol station to the look of OK is not received positively by everyone. ‘I don’t understand Shell letting nice locations go!’ gas station entrepreneur Kees Top of TotalEnergies De Vanenburg responded on LinkedIn. ‘This was a golden dealer!’

Continuing in the look of OK from August, the Doetinchem filling station offers Euro 95, SuperPlus 98 Pure, X-Drive Diesel, AdBlue and LPG at the pump.

400 filling stations

Dutch company Catom has owned the OK brand in the Netherlands since 2004. OK, an abbreviation of Olie Konsument, has a network of more than 100 filling stations in the Netherlands, the vast majority of which are manned. In early July, it was announced that the company acquired more than three hundred filling stations from BP in the Netherlands. This expansion brings OK to more than four hundred stations, making it one of the largest formulas in the Netherlands.

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This article was automatically translated from the Dutch language original to English (British).

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