Stockmann by Helsinki
On a recent business trip to Helsinki in Finland on behalf of the Ikkaton company together with CEO Erik Trampe, I managed to see a bit more of the Finnish capital and its grand Stockmann warehouse. It is supposedly founded by a Stockmann family member of the same German Stockmann family that I originate from. This is an old German trading family from Mettingen in Nordrhein-Westphalen, who can trace their family tree back for several centuries. The earliest records of the Stockmann family I found in the digital records goes back to 15th and 16th century. Interestingly, twice in the family story, a male changed his last name into his wife’s name of Stockmann instead of passing on his own. Otherwise, our last names would have been Tegelmann or Veltmann today. It happened back in the 16th or 17th century and gives an indication of how strong a branding/trading name ‘Stockmann’ was. The name is supposed to mean a person walking with a cane (In German: Gehen mit einem Stock), referring to a prominent person from a trading company. During the 19th century, the Stockmann family started expanding outside Germany and emigrated to new countries to start up business. For our branch of the family, it was my great-great grandfather Stockmann, who founded the Stockmann warehouse in Sneek, Friesland in Northern Holland. We have beautiful photos of it, but sadly all was lost in the stock market crash in 1929. The Finnish Stockmann warehouse still exists but is no longer owned by the Stockmann family. According to one of the employees I spoke to, it’s now owned by the Lindex Group. Thus ends a fairy tale 🙂
Merry Christmas everyone!