Video: Notts TV’s Working Week visits Gee Dee Models in 2015
A Nottingham model shop is up for sale after being owned by the same family for more than 70 years.
Gee Dee Models opened in 1946 – making it the oldest surviving business of its type in Nottingham.
But after seven decades of service to the Nottingham modelling community, owner Peter Grain has announced he is selling up.
The shop started life on Goose Gate, moving location 30 years later to its current location on Heathcoat Street and specialises in model aircraft, planes, ships and railway kits.
And with 120 years of service to the shop between them, Owner Peter and store manager Malcom Chiswick are both set to retire, and have announced the business is going on the market.
In a poster published on Facebook after making his decision to retire, Peter said: “At the ripe old age of 87 I have at last accepted that I will not live forever.
“Malcom who has run the shop for the past 50 years also wants to retire, regretfully this means we must part with a life time’s work.
“This is a unique opportunity for someone to take over one of the finest model shops in the UK.”
Peter has encouraged customers to spread the word to find a buyer and wants the shop to remain open for many more years.
He added: “Our thanks go to all our customers who have supported us over the past, we have made many friends during this time and we will miss them all.
“Keep modelling, remember, a man without a hobby is lost.”
Nottingham is home to several modelling clubs, with members taking to the shop’s Facebook page to thank it for its years of service to the hobby locally.
Nottingham Woodthorpe Model Railway Club chairman Bob Heath said: “Gee Dee Models have had years and years of really good support for the modelling fraternity.
“It’s sad that it is being sold, it would be sad to lose one of the last modelling shops in Nottingham.
“It has been really important in helping the hobby in Nottingham – but in the past 10 years they have had to compete with the internet, no matter what sort of retailer you are it can be hard to compete with the internet.”
The club has been running for more than 40 years and Bob says there is still an interesting in modelling in the city.
He added: “There is still a demand for a modelling shop in Nottingham, there are lots of modelling groups and not just railway modelling either.
“We have about 15 members and we have teenagers right up to retired folk, a real mix.
“There is still a younger generation of modellers coming through in Nottingham.”
