Willson and Gumpets

[sandie]

Who can remember this Toy shop as a kid it was a treat on birthdays etc to be allowed to go for a pressie, it was in the early 60's

Located in Fitzallan Square it was on parr with Redgates, but has a better choice at a good price.

What happend to it .

 

Anyone remember

[shelby46]

I can remember going there as a child, with my parents. I don't know what happened to it, but I would assume Redgates was more popular as it was there longer. Just my thoughts anyhow. Great shop though.

[hillsbro]

Children of the post-war period remember Wilson & Gumperts as an "Aladdin's cave" of wonderful toys - mostly unaffordable but it was nice to look at them! The firm was founded in 1911 when J. Wilson & Son, toy importers and dealers of Snig Hill and Fargate, went into partnership with Ernst Gumpert. He had been a representative of a German firm of toy manufacturers whose products Wilson's had imported, and he had settled in Sheffield, marrying Francis Wilson's daughter Eleanor. The firm prospered, despite some anti-German sentiment during both World Wars. It was not ideal to have two separate shops (at 57 Fargate and in Snig Hill) and in the 1930s the firm obtained a long lease on the premises in Fitzalan Square that we remember. It may be that Redgates were more in tune with modern trends in toy retailing, but whatever the reason, the firm must have closed in the mid-1960s. The last local member of the Gumpert family, the cardiologist Dr Traugott Gumpert, died aged 88 in 1992.

Edited February 20, 2017 by hillsbro

[helbco]

I used to go there in the late 50s and early 60s with my Dad and 5 pounds to spend on fireworks every Guy Fawkes.

 

Catherine wheels, rockets, crackerjacks, etc - nothing ferocious like now!

 

Most of my toys came from Redgates though.

[algy]

 

Most of my toys came from Redgates though.

 

 

Same here, I seem to remember W&G was a bit upmarket pricewise. Still it didn't stop you looking!

[SHYTOT]

Same here, I seem to remember W&G was a bit upmarket pricewise. Still it didn't stop you looking!

 

We would always window shop the train sets that we could not afford to buy.

[eightlegger]

My mother worked for MRS GUMPET,at her home as a housekeeper/cleaner.and sometimes she would take my brother and me with her.MRS GUMPET was a lovely,kind lady.She gave my mother some nice gifts, for my brother and me,especially at chistmas.I have in my collection of toy vehicals from the forties, three special ones she gave us (1950 austin devon,a B.E.V.electric works truck with a figure on the front, and CAMPBELLS BLUEBIRD)all made by DINKY.HAPPY DAYS:) EIGHTLEGGER.

[whitehorses]

Yes, I can just remember going in there in the early sixties, eyes agape at all the wonderful toys !!

[Peterkins2]

Wilson, Gumperts The Pram Shop and Redgates were there back in the 1940s,

My sister bought a Wilson strap and spring chassis pram there in 1946

The most expensive perambulator in the world..her husband and father of her baby was a GI'.

[maxiesmum]

I worked at wilson & Gumperts for 3 years before it closed and we then moved to Redgates in the early 70s Loved working at both places....................We had so much fun too!