A number of sturdy stick umbrellas remain.

Rain would be good now.

"He was always our best friend," says Peter Hogrebe.

"Rain is a reminder that it would be good to have an umbrella." Best, in his view, not just any.

But a specimen with a sturdy wooden frame or with a handle that is covered with leather, in each case covered with a woven fabric in a pretty pattern.

The specialist shop Schirm Klippel on the Katharinenpforte in Frankfurt is known for this selection and quality of brands such as Pasotti, Francesco Maglia, Dopler or Jean Paul Gaultier, as well as for special walking sticks - and a repair service.

Petra Kirchhoff

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Now it's over.

By the end of the week at the latest, Peter Hogrebe and his wife Helga Schmitz-Hogrebe want to close the shop door forever - it is the last specialist shop for umbrellas in Hesse.

As reported, a construction site in front of the shop door - the St. Catherine's Church will be renovated in the next two years and is already causing a lot of trouble for the corner with a high construction fence - caused the dealer couple to stop earlier than planned.

Peter Hogrebe actually wanted to start again after Corona, for two or three years, as he says, although he will soon be 76 years old.

At least he would have liked to celebrate the 125th anniversary.

1898 is the year in which the Klippel story begins.

At that time, Heinrich Klippel had taken over the business, which had already been founded in 1850, from Cornelius Kaufmann.

Seventy years later, Hogrebe's father, a sales representative, joined Klippel and took over the name and the shop at the Katharinenpforte for 300,000 Deutschmarks, which had been there since the early 1950s - on a manageable sales area of ​​just 25 square meters.

A narrow spiral staircase leads down into a no less large workshop.

The first umbrella in 1954 for confirmation

In order to be allowed to repair umbrellas here, Peter Hogrebe's father had to pass an exam as a frame maker.

A traineeship at Bremshey AG in Solingen, which, among other things, manufactured Knirps umbrellas, was enough for the son, who had gotten around a lot as a retail salesman and had been helping his mother in the umbrella business since 2000.

After the death of his mother in 2012, Hogrebe continued to run the business, supported by his wife and a small team.

Ever since it became known that Klippel was closing, regular customers have come to say goodbye more often.

A customer tells us that she got her first umbrella from Klippel in 1954 for her confirmation.

A couple walking past the open door calls in.

“We bought from you last year, great umbrella.

Such a pity.

All the best.” A well-dressed man uses the clearance sale to buy one of the last remaining stick umbrellas at a reduced price.

A good outfit also includes a decent umbrella, he says.

Another customer asks: “And where can you get a decent umbrella from now?” The next point of contact with an equally good selection and a repair service is the umbrella shop Lieb in Mainz.

These are sentimental, emotionally exhausting days, and Helga Schmitz-Hogrebe in particular makes it clear that she is happy to soon have more time for vacation and grandchildren.

None of the sons wanted to take over the business.

Father Hogrebe is nonetheless convinced: "Every specialist shop in Frankfurt can live well if it knows its customers and takes care of its target group."