A house makes history
In its more than 105-year history, Foto Koch in Düsseldorf has become the number one point of contact for photography enthusiasts. Numerous seals and awards, as well as regular, positive reviews on all major review portals, show that customer satisfaction is a high priority at Foto Koch and will remain so in the future. Foto Koch's success story began in 1920 with company founder Fritz Koch on Graf-Adolf-Straße in Düsseldorf. Despite the destruction of the store in 1944, Mr. Koch decided to reopen a store on what was then Alleestraße (now Heinrich-Heine-Allee) after the end of the war.
In the 1950s, the founding couple Koch withdrew from the photography business, heralding the start of Foto Koch under the management of Erich Görner. Until then, Mr. Görner himself had managed the company Photo Görner in Dresden, which had been firmly established in the photography scene there since 1911. Erich Görner recognized the value of the mail order business early on, which is why a mail order business was added in 1955 when the management changed and the company developed its own catalog.
After moving from Heinrich-Heine-Allee to Schadowstraße, where the company is still based today, many hi-fi and video articles were also added to the range in 1973. As a result, Foto Koch expanded its target group of customers. At the same time, the company was always ready for redesigns.
in1992, an extensive expansion took place to create an impressive specialist store for photography, hi-fi, televisions and video. Here, behind a shop window front over 80 meters wide, there were more than a thousand square meters of sales space over two floors. For the first time, Foto Koch has succeeded in combining the advantages of the mail-order business with those of the stationary specialist trade. Comprehensive information before the purchase, security and guarantee in the selection and regular support through catalogs, extra lists, special publications - long after the purchase - are a matter of course. Here you will find everything a photo fan could wish for.
At the end of the 1990s, Foto Koch was one of the first specialist photo retailers in Germany to introduce online trading with its own webshop and once again proved to have a knack for innovation and future trends. The next major event took place in 2008 with the opening of the Foto Koch Academy.
Since then, professional trainers and photographers have been teaching customers about various areas of photography, such as portrait and architectural photography, in courses. In the seminar rooms, which were redesigned in 2016, you can learn everything from handling the camera and accessories, to post-processing and enhancement, to the correct presentation of the photos.
In 2010, Foto Koch reached a major milestone in its history and celebrated its 90th anniversary with special offers and promotions. The highlight of the anniversary was the semi-annual in-house exhibition on May 21 and 22. This included photo shoots by camera manufacturers and other offers for customers. With the handover of management from Dr. Eckart Görner to his son Thomas Görner in 2014, a new direction was also announced with the renovation of the store in Schadowstraße and the overhaul of the online store.
The Foto Koch team had a particularly eventful year in 2015.
The renovation of the store began and was celebrated with a grand opening in November after six months of renovation work. Customers were cordially invited to celebrate the completion on November 27 and 28 as part of the Düsseldorf Photo Days. After the renovation, Foto Koch presented itself in new splendor with an innovative, perhaps unique store concept. This was developed in collaboration with New York interior designer Ole Sondresen and was designed to allow customers to immerse themselves in the world of photography.
Together with the new store, a completely new logo and corporate design were introduced, which have been used ever since.
In February 2016, the new online store was unveiled following the renovation of the retail store.
Since then, it has been presented in a modern and contemporary look and is both clear and user-friendly for customers.
Following the online store, the office and academy premises were also largely completed this year and now have a contemporary appearance that encourages working and learning. With the completion of the rooms, the transformation was also considered complete, with the focus here being on maintaining important core competencies. With its own IT department, Foto Koch is geared towards technical progress and will continue to demonstrate foresight in the development of the company in the future. The next big event was already in 2020: Because then we celebrated the 100th year in the history of Foto Koch!
The logo through the ages
While Foto Koch has changed over the years, the logo has also undergone a constant transformation.
