Regensburg pawnshop
The Regensburger Pfandleihe ( Regensburger Pfandleihe GmbH ) was founded in 1650 and is the oldest pawnshop in Germany. The historic business premises of the Regensburg pawn shop are located at Roten-Hahnen-Gasse 5 in the old town of Regensburg . In addition to the pawn shop, there is a free sale for contemporary jewelry, antique jewelry and high-quality watches.
history
The history of the Regensburg pawnshop begins with the decision of the Council of the Holy Roman Empire to establish a "proper pawnbook" and thus a municipal pawnshop for the free city of Regensburg in 1650. In 1711 a separate pawn shop was built on Haidplatz , the first statute of which was issued on October 12, 1742. After a decree by Charles by the grace of God, Archbishop of the Holy Roman Empire, Arch Chancellor and Elector, the old pawn office was dissolved on June 30, 1804 and a new "electoral pledge and escompte office" (for all estates ) was set up at Haidplatz.
In 1810 the pawnshop moved to the first floor of the Regensburg City Hall as a royal institution . With the introduction of the city magistrates on May 17, 1818, the pawn shop was transferred to the city administration and the "Regensburg pawn shop" was founded. On January 1, 1882, the Regensburg pawnshop moved to the former Salzstadel at the Steinerne Brücke . She moved into the entire eight floors of the building and thus had immense storage capacities available.
At the end of 1966, the municipal pawnshop was closed for financial reasons and Heinrich Eymann received the license to reopen as a private pawnshop on January 1, 1967 from the city administration. In general, a population of 500,000 is the lower limit from which a pawnshop can exist in a city. Although the population of Regensburg was only around 128,000 in 1967, the Regensburg pawnshop was able to exist because it was the only pawnshop in the region. In addition to the city itself and the surrounding area, the catchment area also included Straubing , Weiden in the Upper Palatinate and Ingolstadt . In addition, the influx of students in the following years was an important factor, as the first faculties at the University of Regensburg began their full study operations in the winter semester of 1967/68.
With the advertising slogan "Money in hand, we loan every item!", The Regensburg pawnshop addressed customers from all walks of life. At that time the share of jewelry only made up a fraction of the goods. Since eight floors of the salt barn were available as storage space, an entire floor was reserved for bicycles , for example , and there was a separate air-conditioned room only for storing fur .
In 1985 Heinrich Eymann handed over the Regensburg pawn shop to his daughter Andrea Eymann. Due to the renovation of the Salzstadel, the pawn shop moved to Rote-Hahnen-Gasse 5 in 1988. Since then, only jewelry and high-quality watches have been borrowed. At the turn of the year 1991/92 the Regensburger Pfandleihanstalt was converted into the Regensburger Pfandleihe GmbH.