Thread: Au Revoir Richard Wihelm

Today received the email notification that Richard Wihelm has decided to call time on his business effective 31 March.Bloody sad news.He will be certainly missed on the Chch retail scene after so many decades of Stirling service.The man simply oozed integrity and plain old fashion honesty.Prior to the quake munting his Colombo Street premises, he would have to have been the last of the mohicans -wearing a collar and tie to work daily.Fleecing customers wasn't his style.A very quiet humble battler making on honest wage.He always got my discretionary dollar rather than the nebulous Gun Shop in the City.Currently flogging off the last of his stock so go online and help him out.No doubt the politburo will be toasting with a Chardonnay the exiting of another player in the NZ firearms scene on April Fool's Day.Enjoy your retirement Richard

yup a true Gent, hope he enjoys his retirement.....We spent some time discussing it last time I picked up some goodies from him.

I found him to be a grumpy old C**t in my limited dealings with him

Originally Posted by bluebaiter222

Today received the email notification that Richard Wihelm has decided to call time on his business effective 31 March.Bloody sad news.He will be certainly missed on the Chch retail scene after so many decades of Stirling service.The man simply oozed integrity and plain old fashion honesty.Prior to the quake munting his Colombo Street premises, he would have to have been the last of the mohicans -wearing a collar and tie to work daily.Fleecing customers wasn't his style.A very quiet humble battler making on honest wage.He always got my discretionary dollar rather than the nebulous Gun Shop in the City.Currently flogging off the last of his stock so go online and help him out.No doubt the politburo will be toasting with a Chardonnay the exiting of another player in the NZ firearms scene on April Fool's Day.Enjoy your retirement Richard

A true assessment of a gentleman of the old school. I have passed many dollars across his counter with never once a regret,and I will miss him but hope he has a long retirement.All the best Richard and Sue.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

I found him to be a grumpy old C**t in my limited dealings with him

Yup i heard he could be that. Very knowledgeable but time was also money and could be quite abrupt about that.
Old shooting mate (bit older than me) told me one of his comments years ago was about the word justify.
Mate said he couldn't justify the "add appropriate scope model here". Richard said, "you mean afford".
Was the gundoc of scopes in the south island at least.
One of the things he supposedly used to do back in the days when he retailed scopes was when approached by a rep about the next best scope, he would request one for testing and pull it to bits to see how well it was built. Then depending on that he would make the call wether he sold it or not.
Going to lose a lot of that knowledge although hasn't really been doing that for a while.
Got 3 scopes from him back in the day

I got to know Richard when we were both teenagers in the Canterbury NZDA. His father was in the trade then in a sports shop in New Regent Street We have done a lot of reciprocal business over the years to our mutual satisfaction. He is an honest and knowledgeable man and has provided good service to shooters for many years, and a whiz on optical repairs to boot. Enjoy your retirement old mate!

Yes. A big loss but I wish him well.

I benefitted from my handful of dealings with him.

Retirement is an issue front and centre of my radar screen...

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

I found him to be a grumpy old C**t in my limited dealings with him

Richard was very old school forthright and wouldn't suffer fool's.Two qualities I admire.Could be said to ruffle teachers if you were a snowflake

I bought my chronograph from him nearly 30 years ago. Still got it and still working perfectly!

Worked across the road from him, found him abrupt, but he sure new his optics.

Sad to see yet another small company go! The knowledge base that many of these smaller outfit have certainly surpass that of many of the larger outfits.

Had a few dealings with him and many discussions, great knowledgeable guy but you needed to keep all your ducks in a row.

I was of the Lincoln Uni Hunting club in the mid 90's. I remember picking up a spotting scope we bought with Grant we received. Richard gave me a lecture on looking after optics properly. I was a bit taken aback, but have followed his advice ever since. Enjoy retirement Richard.

I bought my Swarovski Habicht binos and Leica rangefinder off him 20 and 18 years and ago still use them both today. I liked his no BS, direct approach. The binos will be going back to Swarovski this year for a birthday.