Heinz was born in Frankfurt, Germany and immigrated to this country with his mother in 1963 when he was eighteen years old. Christa was born in Nuremberg, Germany and immigrated to America with her parents and two sisters in 1952 when she was five years old. Heinz and Christa met at a Bavarian Soccer game in Glendale, Wisconsin. They were married in 1966. They have two children a son, Karl and a daughter, Heidi, and proud grandparents of six grandchildren. Since they both shared a German heritage they continued their involvement in the Milwaukee German Community. Heinz is a past President of German Fest and they are members of the Karnevals Gesellschaft Rheinischer Verein Gruen-Weiss. Originally, the business was a wholesale operation. After several years of requests from the community and friends, they added a retail store in Germantown. Within five years the store was expanded from 200 sq. ft. to 4,000 sq. ft. To better serve their customers, In May of 2008 the store was moved to a new expanded location in the Richfield Square Shopping Center on State Road 175 (only 2.5 miles north of the old location). The store offers a large selection of German and European quality crafted collectibles and a year round Christmas Chalet.