Tobaccoland wholesale company
The Tobaccoland wholesale mbH & Co KG was a German tobacco - wholesale company with its global headquarters in Mönchengladbach was. On January 1, 1999, the company merged with the newly founded Lekkerland-Tobaccoland GmbH & Co KG .
history
The foundation stone for the later Tobaccoland Großhandelsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG was laid in Mönchengladbach-Windberg in 1926. In 1926 Wilhelm Grünewald, representative of a Dutch cigar company, opened a tobacco shop with the support of his wife Franziska. Thirteen years later, in 1939, when the war broke out, customers could already be supplied with a total of three vehicles. Mönchengladbach, Rheydt and the surrounding area belonged to the catchment area of the business. When the economy got going again in 1945, the 16-year-old son of the family, Heinz Grünewald, brought the goods to the customers on a bicycle. Heinz and seven years later the second son, Manfred Grünewald, joined the parents' company after completing their business apprenticeship and steadily expanded it. Wilhelm Grünewald died in 1968. In 1974 the company that still operated under the name "Wilhelm Grünewald" made 100,000 marks in sales. Business became more and more difficult for the Mönchengladbach company in the following years. That is why the brothers Heinz and Manfred decided to merge with the Essen wholesaler JA Giesen and Fritz Henberg from Borken. Tobaccoland-Großhandelsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, based in Mönchengladbach, emerged from this merger. The sole managing directors were Heinz and Manfred Grünewald.
Tobaccoland Großhandelsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG was created on June 29, 1974 through the merger of the tobacco wholesaler Fritz Tenberg , which had existed in Borken since 1845, the tobacco wholesaler Wilhelm Grünewald from Mönchengladbach and the tobacco wholesaler JA Giesen from Essen, which had existed since 1926. The first managing director was Heinz Grünewald, previously owner of the wholesale company of the same name.
In 1985 the company established a modern, IT-based sales system in its new headquarters in Mönchengladbach, which both its own sales offices and cooperation partners could access. In the period that followed, cooperation with large mineral oil chains and the sale of their own products via their filling stations began.
In 1988 Tobaccoland merged with the MADERGO tobacco wholesaler Matthias Dercks KG from Goch , whose co-owner Wilhelm Dercks, along with Heinz Grünewald and Manfred Grünewald, became the managing director of the joint company. From 1990 Tobaccoland also cooperated with the Aral petrol stations in Germany . In the same year Austria Tabak AG took over 49% of the shares in Tobaccoland and increased its stake to 80% in 1994. At the same time, the first foreign branch was founded in Austria, tobaccoland Handels GesmbH , which is, however, 100% owned by Austria Tabak AG.
In 1992 , Tabak-Union Rhein-Ruhr Vertriebs GmbH (TURR) , based in Essen, was taken over in 1988 from the merger of the specialist wholesaler Zigarren Zinn GmbH from Essen, the tobacco wholesaler Norbert Stegemann from Gelsenkirchen and the Ketzer KG from Oberhausen . The takeover of TURR was the entry into the retail trade in the form of renting kiosks and tobacco shops. This resulted in the partner system Tobacco Exchange .
In 1996, the sales range was expanded, in addition to tobacco products, CDs and consumer goods were also offered. In 1997 Austria Tabak AG took over the remaining shares in Tobaccoland and appointed Wolfgang Zinn, formerly owner of the specialist wholesaler Zigarren Zinn GmbH , as managing director.
Tobaccoland continued to grow through mergers, acquisitions and expansion until the last shares of the Grünewald brothers were sold in 1999. In the meantime, the company has even made it into the Guinness Book of Records: "As the world's largest tobacco products wholesaler." In 1999, the company generated sales of around 6.3 billion Deutschmarks.
On January 1, 1999 Tobaccoland merged with Lekkerland GmbH & Co KG from Frechen to form Lekkerland Tobaccoland GmbH & Co KG based in Frechen. The previous Tobaccoland parent company Austria Tabak AG holds 25.1% of the shares in the new company . The previously outsourced Tobaccoland Automatengesellschaft mbH & Co. KG , which operates cigarette vending machines , will continue to be owned by Austria Tabak AG . In 2005 the name Tobaccoland disappeared from the appearance of the new company, since then it has only been called Lekkerland GmbH & Co KG .
Individual evidence
- ↑ RP ONLINE: Series What does it actually do ?: The business with the glow sticks. Retrieved May 27, 2020 .
- ↑ RP ONLINE: Series What does it actually do ?: The business with the glow sticks. Retrieved May 27, 2020 .