Together with his wife Rita Gründl and his brother-in-law Peter Bonny, Siegfried Gründl laid the foundations for the successful development of the company, which initially began in a small wooden kiosk in Hamburg-Altona in the 1950s - with a fruit and vegetable shop. The business flourished, but in 1957 the couple nevertheless decided to give up the business. Rita Gründl now opened a shoe shop, while Siegfried Gründl founded the company "Altonaer Wassersport Ausrüstung" (AWA), and the first small rowing and fishing boats were built and sold.
Over the course of the 1960s, the boat business expanded and Gründl took over the representation of well-known foreign shipyards, such as Beneteau and Nauticat and the inflatable boat manufacturer Zodiac. In the seventies, Siegfried Gründl fulfils a long-cherished dream by acquiring the Teufelsbrück marina with over 80 berths at the time. But in the 1990s, Gründl parted with the marina again with a heavy heart - participation in major trade fairs became more important, and so at some point there was simply not enough time to look after the small harbour on the Elbe.
Focus on import and distribution of international brands
In 1972, the company, which now has four locations, moved from Hamburg-Altona to Bönningstedt, just outside Hamburg - various exhibition and sales halls were built on the site on the B4, which are still being expanded and renovated today. However, the move also marked the end of the company's own production, and the import and sale of international boat brands continued to grow. In 1974, Rita Gründl also gave up her beloved shoe business and devoted herself exclusively to selling boats. Later, all three children of the founding couple work in the company - one of them, Richard Gründl, joins the management team in 1998 and runs the company together with his father. The first mail-order catalogue entitled "Gründl-Nautic-Highlight's" was launched in 1997, the first edition comprising 86 pages with almost 900 articles. The current catalogue contains over 17,000 articles on 576 pages.
With his instinct for the right product at the right time, he has offered many brands a platform."
It was not until 2015, at the age of 80, that Siegfried Gründl retired from his company and handed it over to his son Richard. Two years earlier, his wife Rita had passed away after a serious illness. "As a pioneer and visionary, Siegfried Gründl wrote water sports history," write his children Richard Gründl, Rosemarie Gründl-Rose and Dirk Gründl in their recently published obituary. "With his instinct for the right product at the right time, he provided a platform for many brands that are still internationally successful today or represented a milestone in their time. His commitment and passion remain a role model for us and we will always remember him with gratitude."
