Old tobacco factory

In the 1900s, the Bourguignon-Simonet family was active in agriculture. The wife Marie, who came from Sohier, was a born merchant. She bought tobacco from private individuals, equipped the former Moreau brewery with a chopper and sold her products in the region and far beyond. In 1906 she already won a silver medal at the exhibition for tobacco and related products in Brussels.

In the village she had a shop that sold all kinds of things and she had her own way of doing business. She did not pay her suppliers but opened an account for them in her general store. People came to buy clothes, shoes and food and she deducted it from the bill. That very shrewd woman would later be called Marie Boutique.

Before the Second World War, her son took over the business and changed the name to "Royal Ardennais". His sister married the last mayor of the village, René Thijs, and continued her mother's shop.

willem vandenameele