Company Profile of Förster Company, Bochum
A family business with a long tradition …
The Company
Company headquarters
Essen, in the heart of the Ruhr area, is the location and home of the Förster Company. In addition to the management here are also the sales and warehouse located. Our company is located in Essen in the industrial park called "Kray-Leithe".
Sales
Logistics is of central importance in this age of globalization and the progressive internationalization of potential markets. Following this development, the Förster Company attaches particular importance on perfecting the distribution of goods. Incoming air or sea freight shipments from the Far East or the United States are duty paid, picked, and shipped to national and international customers on the same day. Hundreds of deliveries - no matter whether pallets or parcels - leave every month our warehouse in Essen with the aim to service the customer as soon as possible.
Showroom
The Sales Department will be pleased to present the assortment of the Förster Company in our showroom in Essen by appointment.
History
Foundation
The history of the Förster Company starts over 70 years ago, when Karl Förster founded a confectionery wholesale in Bochum-Weitmar in 1948. The delivery of sweets took place with the legendary Tempo tricycle at countless kiosks and grocery stores in the Ruhr area and the surrounding area.
Development
In 1955, Karl took over the agencies for some tobacco product manufacturers from his brother and increased its range. The range of tobacco products was constantly further expanded by the inclusion of some exclusive brands while sales in the confectionery sector, due to the emergence of some cash & carry hypermarkets, steadily declined.
After Karl's death in 1964, the wholesale was continued by his wife on a small scale. 1968 Karls brother Heinrich took over the leadership of the now pure tobacco wholesale. Together with his son, Dieter, he assumed two tobacco shops in the area of Bochum.
To compensate the continuing decline of smoking accessories, Dieter launched the sale of modelcars in the two stores in 1980. The initial experiment quickly developed into a successful business. Therefore, the range of wholesale has expanded also with modelcars.
The interest of modelcar collectors grew worldwide by the ever-increasing choice and diversity of manufacturers of modelcars in quality and price.
With the beginning of the successful series of German drivers in formula one and other motorsports series, also the modelcar manufacturer developed interest in this growing market.
Present
Due to the constant expansion of the wholesale for modelcars, the Förster Company took over more and more agencies until they became official wholesale distributor for the Mattel Company in the year 2000, which had among other things the sole licensing rights of the Ferrari brand at that time.
5 Years later there was no longer enough space in the old headquarters and the Förster Company opened an additional warehouse in Bochum-Wattenscheid.
In 2019 the Förster Company moved from Bochum to Essen and merged the company's two subsidiaries. Here are the showroom, office and warehouse located on an area of around 2000 square meters. Today, the Förster Company represents about 50 different manufacturers. Some of the most renowned manufacturers are for example Minichamps, CMC, AUTOart, Mattel, Revell, SCHUCO, Bburago, and Tamiya. The Förster Company's customers include over 500 stores across Europe and around the world.