120 years of the Gerds company in Grimmen: This family has petrol and engines in its blood
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Twelve decades, two world wars, the GDR era and the reunification survived – the family business Gerds has proven endurance with 120 years of tradition at the Grimmen location. The fifth generation is now employed in the company. So it can go on.
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grim.It is 120 years ago that Friedrich Gerds made an entry in the trade register in Greifswald on May 2nd and thus opened his shop in Grimmen. Now, twelve decades later, the Gerds company in Grimmen is still family-owned. And that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. After all, the fifth generation is already working in the family business.
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It all started with the plumbing of the great-grandfather of today’s company bosses, Andreas and Frank Gerds. In addition to zinc bathtubs and sewing machines, Friedrich Gerds, who had just moved to Grimmen at the time, also sold bicycles. But soon the offer was motorized – motorcycles were added. Engines and vehicles are probably in the Gerds’ blood, because the Opel car dealership Gerds in Grimmen is still known far beyond the city limits.
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Car dealership, workshop, gas station
And because motorized vehicles are large, Friedrich Gerds’ first shop at Norderhinterstraße 45 quickly became too small, and three decades after the company was founded, the Gerds company moved to Greifswalder Straße. But a year earlier, the Gerds family business had found its way to the Opel automobile group.
In the meantime, Frank’s and Andreas’ grandfather Hans Gerds had taken over the business. He also worked as a driving school instructor during the war, but was taken prisoner of war and had to start from scratch when he came home. Incidentally, a gas station also belonged to the company – by the way, it was the only one in Grimmen until 1965.
survived GDR times
“My parents took over the company that year,” says Andreas Gerds. Hans-Jürgen Gerds always had his wife Christine at his side in accounting. Hans-Jürgen Gerds had already joined in 1953. Together they managed that the private company survived the GDR period as such. “My father only ever had ten employees. That was the maximum number allowed in a private company in the GDR,” Andreas Gerds knows from his father’s stories. However, no Opels were sold at this time, but from 1960 Moskvich. The company had a service contract with this car company. From 1980 Skoda was added.
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“Immediately after the fall of the Wall in 1990, my parents got back to Opel right away,” says Andreas Gerds. On April 26, 1990, the documents from the authorized dealership had already been signed with Opel, and in June the first “Westautos” were parked in the yard on Greifswalder Strasse. Three Corsa, three Kadett and one Vectra and one Omega had already arrived in Trebestadt for monetary union.
One of the first companies in the commercial area
And again it became too cramped in the Gerd’schen company headquarters. The family was one of the first to build in the new commercial area in Grimmen. In 1992 the construction work “Am Stadtwald” began. Opel-Gerds employees have been working there since August 3, 1993. Christine Gerds is always there – as usual in accounting – a job that she didn’t really let go of until her sudden death in 2019. Hans-Jürgen Gerds as (co-)managing director until 2019. He died this year after a long illness.
“My brother Frank learned directly from my parents and was always in the family business. I originally wanted to be a veterinarian, but as the son of a private workshop, I didn’t have a chance in the GDR era. That’s why I trained at the KIB in Grimmen and later was also self-employed with a free workshop on Stralsunder Straße,” says Andreas Gerds. He has worked in the family business since 1995. There are currently 30 employees at Opel-Gerds. And the family tradition is continued, for example, Felix Gerds, an apprentice automotive salesman, works in the company.
Opel Day on May 7th
Actually, there should be a big celebration at Opel-Gerds for the 120th company birthday. However, after the senior boss recently passed away, this is out of the question for the employees. But they, like the family, would like to thank their customers for so many years of loyalty and are therefore inviting them to an Opel Day on the company premises on May 7th. There will be a barbecue, conversations are possible over coffee and cake and some music is also planned. And of course the real passion of the Gerds should not be neglected – the cars. The new Astra L is presented and can also be test driven.
:watermark(assets.rndtech.de/oz/watermark-plus.svg,50,50,0)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/madsack/VRNQMZ52WLMKPUCO63DLZTU6YQ.jpg "This family has gasoline and motors in its blood")
