As of 2003 it has branches in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. Its branches in the United Kingdom were closed circa 2002.
The company was founded by the brothers Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer in 1841 in the Netherlands as a textile company, taking its name from their initials. It has remained in ownership of the Brenninkmeijer family which as of 2003 was the wealthiest in the Netherlands with an estimated 10,000 million Euro.