Fritz Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 I was rather shocked when I discovered that Heinz Rettkowsky Modellbau, based in the heart of Hamburg's St.Pauli district, has now closed. This I only just discovered. It's present owner, Jonny Kliesch took it over in the 1990s from it's founder, Heinz Rettkowsky. The new owner told himself he would keep the business running as long as it didn't make any losses and having to pay into on top of that. Since internet businesses have boomed, model shops have become less. Heinz Rettkowsky was an "Original", says Jonny Kliesch, also an enthusiastic model builder. One of his favourite anecdotes was about his former boss, when at the end of the 1930s, Klein-Heinz was on board the steamer to New York with his aunt. The little fellow was a member of the Hitler Youth and being business-minded took a few swastika tinnies with him in a cigarbox and swapped these for model kits of American and English aircraft. On his return to Germany he almost got into trouble with the Customs, but remarked, "The Models we need for our HJ Group for identification of enemy aircraft". That worked. Herr Kliesch would next wish to move to Helgoland with his wife, the only model he would take with him would be the Containerfrachter of the Colombo-Express-Klasse from Hapag-Lloyd with around 8000 Mini-Containern an Bord, he explained to reporters of Hamburger Abendblatt. Source: Hamburger Abendblatt, 12.4.2017 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Andrew Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Thats a pity, looks like it was a great shop too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted January 25, 2018 Author Share Posted January 25, 2018 Was a great shop. I only saw the new owner a couple of times, but I knew Herr Rettkowsky in the earlier days, and I got quite a few out of production Airfix and Revell articles, which I painted in great detail, but later sold for a few Pfennigs. I only kept a few WW1 aircraft. Sorry to see him go. There used to be also his showcase in the open air part of St. Pauli Landungsbrücken U-Bahn, with some spendidly made examples, it is a wonder these never were the object of vandalism. Now there are hardly any of these shops left in Hamburg, one of the last was "Butzi" in the Hamburger Straße Shopping Mall, but they went in the late 90s, and also one in Wandsbek, also long since gone, where I got a Hannover CL II, still unbuilt. Was also looking for a Roland C II, but lost my chance, these kits now almost unobtainable. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Andrew Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Yes it's very sad, we have lost five model shops in Glasgow too in recent years, people miss them when they are gone. It's very expensive to run a shop with lots of hidden costs people are not aware of, luckily we have a lot of regulars otherwise we would find it tough too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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